AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That wasn’t true. Plates were being cleared away.
“Kate already explained,” Charlotte intervened. “My family and I knew she and Jude would have to skip out early. It’s all right,” she assured Kate. “You being here with us before your flight was so kind of you.”
“Of course we wouldn’t miss it,” Kate told her. “I’m so sorry to say that I have patients and Jude has clients—some of whom are having difficulty getting back home and really need his legal assistance.”
“We completely understand,” Charlotte avowed as she placed a hand over her heart. “Everything you two are doing to help those poor victims is—”
“Not supposed to take over your lives so that you can’t even spend time with your family,” Betsy scoffed, indignant.
“Mother.” Denny gazed at her, quite sternly, while giving a slight shake of his head to cut her off.
The gesture took Kate by surprise. He was coming to her defense when she was bailing on his newlywed’s brunch? Was Charlotte rubbing off on him?
“We don’t mean to inconvenience anyone,” Jude announced as he pushed back his chair.
“Charlotte’s right, dear,” Mrs. Kensington said. “It’s been so lovely to have you here, Kate and Jude. We look forward to seeing you again. But we understand you have professional responsibilities and a civic duty to uphold. That’s quite admirable.”
Okay… Now Kate was experiencing flashes of Alice as she navigated Wonderland. But then her brother John raised his champagne glass and wished them safe travels, and Kate realized that perhaps the statement she and Jude had made that night in Kate’s apartment when she’d stood up for her choices had resonated.
Hmm.
She suddenly felt a twinge of guilt over having married Jude without anyone knowing.
But across the table, her mother gaped, presumably at everyone’s acceptance of Kate’s obligations elsewhere—and at her audacity for not obediently remaining at the table.
“Again,” Kate reiterated, “We’re so sorry for the early departure. We’ll see you all soon, though.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Charlotte jumped up, before Denny could even assist her. She looped her arm with Kate’s as they headed toward the oversized archway leading out of the formal dining room.
“You do forgive us, right?” Kate asked.
“Of course! It’s just brunch, Kate.”
With a laugh, she said, “Don’t say that too loud or my mother might faint.”
“Just tell me you enjoyed yourselves last night,” Charlotte said, “and I?
?ll be so pleased.”
“It was sensational,” Kate swore. “The ceremony, the food, the company, the dancing. It was an amazing treat, believe me.”
“Absolutely flawless,” Jude contended, making Charlotte beam.
“Thank goodness,” she said. “Your mother seemed to take exception to just about everything—”
“Charlotte, please,” Kate said, suddenly turning to face her. “Never let any of her nits get to you. She will always, always find something unsatisfactory to complain about. You have to let it go in one ear and out the other without a single thought to her jibes. Promise me you’ll remember that?”
Charlotte kissed her cheek. “I promise.”
Relieved, Kate said, “All right. Now get back in there. I see plenty of house staff at the ready to escort us out. Don’t leave your guests for us.”
“We will talk soon?” Charlotte pressed, ever hopeful.
“Very soon.”
Charlotte hedged. “It’s just that I worry you won’t find me the least bit interesting now that all of my wedding hoopla’s over. Or…you won’t have anything you want to discuss with me.”
Her apprehension and tentative tone tugged at Kate’s heartstrings.
