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“Our what?” she shrieked. And all heads whipped in her direction.
Charlotte raised her hands in the air and said to the conglomeration filling Kate’s living room, “Keep enjoying the quaff and nosh, people. Kate and I are just chitchatting. Catching up on things. Girl talk.” She winked.
Conversations resumed.
Kate eyed Charlotte speculatively. “You called me Kate.”
“Yes. I apologize for the previous oversight. But Jude said—”
“When did you speak with Jude?”
“Recently. At length. My, gosh, the effort he is making to ensure his proposal for the Dawn Stevens Foundation is a successful one is astounding! I’m so impressed. And, Kate—”
The doorbell chimed once more.
“Oh!” Charlotte squealed. “I bet that’s him now.”
“Him, who?” Kate demanded.
“Jude, of course.”
“Jude!” Kate glared at the other woman. “I never invited him.”
“I did. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s sort of a surprise. Well, my surprise, since he doesn’t know I didn’t tell you. And it’s just… Oh, this is crazy in the most exhilarating way!”
“Charlotte.” Kate gripped her upper arms. “Jude and I are not engaged. We’re not getting married. We’re not even together.” She said this just low enough that it didn’t draw too much attention.
Charlotte beamed, undeterred. “I know, Kate. Your family doesn’t know, but I do. Jude’s here for a different reason.”
“And what might that be?”
“To support you when you tell your family you’re going to Afghanistan.”
Kate couldn’t scream. That would create a bigger scene than she and Charlotte were already making. Even Nikki was staring at them curiously. But she was astute enough to let Kate and Charlotte carry on while she canvased the room in her effervescent fashion, engaging everyone in conversation and taking some of the pressure off of Kate.
Not all of the pressure…because Jude was apparently at her front door.
“Charlotte…what have you done?”
“Nothing devious, I swear. The crux of our discussion was the meaningful promotion of a newly formed charitable foundation. Which sort of morphed into your impending plans. And while, yes, Jude is concerned for your well-being, he’s primarily worried you’re not going to receive the support you need and deserve. So I insisted he come tonight—to offer that support.”
“You insisted.”
Charlotte smile coyly. “Yes, Kate. Jude is a wonderfully complex man. So perfect for you. I’m fascinated by you both, I’ll confess. And I’ll never hear the end of this from Denison, but I don’t care. He loves me in spite of my idiosyncrasies.”
“That’s reassuring. And yet… Charlotte. What is so fascinating about me and Jude?”
“Just wait. You’ll see.” She kissed Kate on the cheek. Then declared, “I’m going to greet Jude at the door. I’ll be right back with him!”
She flounced off, as pleased as could be.
Kate wondered what alternate universe she’d just entered. What magical portal she’d slipped into. What rabbit hole she’d fallen down…?
Her gaze swept over the ten other people gathered about. Her parents. Her four brothers. Their three wives…Charlotte notwithstanding, since she’d just disappeared. Nikki.
Kate had requested adults only, no children. This could be a traumatizing event. No need to project that onto her nieces and nephews, regardless of them all being at such a young age they’d have no true concept of what the adults were discussing. But Kate firmly believed they could perceive emotions and tension…and didn’t want to be a contributing factor to any stress in their lives.
Also, she wanted her family focused on her and what she had to say to them.
