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Rafe reminded his sister, “I thought you were going to keep it low-key.”
Brooke dismissed him with a wave of her wineglass. “He’s only nine once, Rafe. I want it to be a party he’ll remember.”
Rafe let it go at that. Genny understood why. Once Brooke had decided to do something, it caused nothing but misery to argue with her plan.
Before dessert, Genny excused herself for a quick trip to the loo. She used the half bath not all that far from the East Dining Room. It was down a rather dim corridor. She took care of business, washed her hands and primped her hair.
When she pulled open the door, she almost ran into Fiona. “Oh!” It came out like a shriek of fright. And in a way, it was. “Fiona, you surprised me.” She wanted out of there, and fast. “All yours, then.” She dodged around the redhead.
But Fiona caught her arm. “Just a minute. Please, Genevra.” Her voice was frantic, the light in her eyes nothing short of desperate.
Genny’s stomach rolled, the baby making it clear yet again that he or she didn’t appreciate intense emotions. She longed to jerk away and race toward the light at the end of the hallway.
But she didn’t. She pulled it together, gently disengaged her arm and said, “All right. What is it?”
Fiona put her hands together—and started wringing them. “About that night last week...” Her mouth twisted, her misery obvious even in the darkness of the hallway. She tried a laugh. It came out a frenzied little screech. “I’d had a lot to drink and I have no idea what I might have said or done. It’s all a complete blur to me. And I do hope you won’t take whatever I said that night seriously. I...I could have said anything. Made up things, you know?”
Genny ought to let it go. There was nothing antagonistic in Fiona’s attitude now. On the contrary, she seemed to want to reassure Genny that the things she’d said last Tuesday night would never cross her lips again. But then, who could tell with Fiona? “Which things, exactly, are you talking about?”
More hand wringing. “Well, I...I told you, I don’t really know—because I can’t remember, you see? I only wanted to apologize for barging in on you like that. It was so rude and disgusting of me.”
“Then you do remember coming to my room?”
“I... Yes. I do. I remember you let me in. And after that, it’s all a blur. All of it. Everything. I woke up in the morning in my room with a blazing hangover and I had no idea how I—”
“Gen?” Rafe stood down at the far end of the hallway, his broad form silhouetted against the light. “Everything all right?”
“Oh!” Fiona cried. “Rafe, hello there. Everything is fine, fine...” She flashed Genny a huge, ghastly smile. “Well, wonderful, then. Wonderful.” She whirled, darted into the powder room behind her and quickly shut the door.
Genny went to Rafe.
He looked her over as though checking her for injuries. “After you left the table, she jumped up and said she’d be right back. I didn’t like the look in her eyes.”
“So you came to rescue me?” She went on tiptoe and brushed a kiss against his jaw.
He was still frowning. “What was that about?”
Scary question. Genny considered blowing the whole thing off, reassuring him, the same as Fiona had, that it was nothing. But he was no fool. He would know she was lying. And they’d been doing so well together. Truth mattered. They needed, slowly, to work their way through all the sad secrets of the past.
“Gen?” he prompted.
Right now, however, was not the time. “Long story. How about if we talk about it later?”
He hesitated. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
“I am, absolutely.”
He offered his arm and they returned to the dining room.
* * *
All evening Genny stewed over what she would tell him when they were alone.
Everything, demanded her conscience.
Nothing, said the coward within who only wanted this fragile happiness they shared to continue forever, no matter the cost.
After dessert, Brooke, Fiona and Melinda went off to watch a film on the big-screen television in the Back Sitting Room. Eloise seemed to want to visit for a while. Rafe suggested Scrabble, as he knew his grandmother enjoyed trouncing everyone at a good word game. They played for three hours. Eloise won. She always did.
By midnight, Genny and Rafe were alone in the East Bedroom. She waited for him to ask about Fiona, but he only undressed her slowly and took her to bed.
Maybe he’d forgotten.
Or maybe he really just didn’t want to go there.
Fine with her. The coward inside her was perfectly content to forget all about it. He worked his usual magic on her willing body and she let herself get lost in the beauty of every sensation.
