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Jack knew by the tone in Kelly’s voice and the look on her face that she knew what was going on with Jennie. “Oh, God. I had no idea anything happened between them. She never said anything.”
He was confused but waited for Kelly to continue.
“Jennie was married before, Jack. She’s a widow.”
“What? How could we not know that? How is that possible? In fact, I know it’s not possible. We do background checks on employees. We would have seen it.” Jack was shaking his head but Kelly looked so certain.
“Do you see all the background checks?”
“No. I guess not. Chad checks them and he usually gives me a quick okay or tells me if there’s an issue.” Understanding swept over him. “Chad must know. It must have shown up in her report, but he would have respected her privacy. He’d keep that private, even from me, since she never volunteered the information herself and it wasn’t relevant to her working for us. I can’t believe she’s a widow. She’s so young. What happened? When?” His mind ran over everything he knew about the seemingly happy woman who had started out as his temporary secretary, but was now a friend.
“They grew up together. Fell in love in high school and somehow managed to stay together even through college.” Kelly smiled. “It was a fairytale love but it ended in tragedy. They were married for a year when he died from cancer. That was four years ago, but she hasn’t gotten over it. She dates men from time to time, but honestly, they’re more like friends that take her to dinner. I think she doesn’t truly want to find someone else. I have a feeling Chad challenges that reluctance for her. I think she feels a lot more for Chad than she wants to. If she looked upset, my guess is it had to do with feelings she’s not ready to have.”
Jack scrubbed his hands down his face. He was trying to rub away the confusion and figure out how to tell his wife what he’d done.
“I think Andrew and I screwed up, honey,” he began, feeling more out of his element than he had in a long time. Uneasy wasn’t an emotion he was used to.
Kelly was watching him with apprehension. She put a hand on his face and rubbed his jaw softly with her thumb. “What did you do?”
“A friend of mine wanted my opinion on a resort property in the Florida Keys he wants to buy. It’s a high-end place that caters mostly to young couples, honeymooners, that type of thing. I told Peter I’d send someone to check it out, see if anything comes up. Andrew and I arranged for Chad and Jennie to go in as honeymooners on Monday. They, uh... They don’t know yet. We’re planning to tell them it came up suddenly. We thought it would be a good way to give them a little push, you know?”
“Can you cancel it?” Kelly sat up further, looking a lot more alert than she had moments before.
“Absolutely. I can look over the numbers for my friend, and do an assessment for him without sending anyone out there. If you think that’s what I should do, I’ll do it in a heartbeat,” he assured her.
Jack watched Kelly as she seemed to struggle with the decision.
“It’s all right, Kels. I’ll go cancel it. I shouldn’t have done it in the first place.” Jack started to stand, but Kelly put a hand on his arm to stop him.
“No,” she said slowly. “I’ll probably go to hell for this, but maybe you should send them. I think Jennie’s been sad, watching all of us getting married, seeing us start a family. I know something’s got her stuck in the past, but maybe it would be good to see if we can nudge her out of it.”
Jack’s eyebrows just about shot through the roof. “You think I should send them?”
Kelly nodded. “If it was anyone other than Chad, I’d say no. But, they’re adults and we can trust Chad. If Jennie doesn’t want anything to happen, nothing will. He won’t pressure her. But, if I’m right about her feelings for him, maybe he can help her get past whatever’s been holding her back.”
“You’re sure?” Jack asked.
“No. Not at all.” She looked positively miserable at the idea that she might be doing the wrong thing for Jennie.
Jack wrapped his arms around her. “You’re right about one thing, though. We can trust Chad with her. If Jennie doesn’t want anything to happen, nothing will.”
Kelly was quiet for a few more minutes.
“Text me when you tell them Monday and I’ll call Jennie and see how she’s doing. If she’s totally freaked, you can make an excuse and say it’s cancelled. If she’s okay, we let them go. Sound good?”
Jack nodded and began to rain kisses down his wife’s jaw line, across her neck, to her shoulder. Before he could get much further, Kelly gasped and sat straight up – well, as straight up as her pregnant belly would allow.
“Wait! If you’re sending Jennie away for two weeks, she might not be here when the baby’s born. We can’t do that. She needs to be here, Jack.”
He smiled at his wife, pushing her back on the pillows and continuing his slow caress of the body he loved.
“The doctor said most women don’t go into labor early their first time.” He smiled at Kelly as she whimpered in response to his statement. He knew she was dying to have the baby on time, not wanting to be pregnant a moment past her due date.
“Commercial flight time is only about two and half hours but I promise to have a jet on standby. She won’t wait at the airport or anything. We’ll whisk her out of there and get her home in an hour, an hour and a half, tops. She won’t miss the delivery. I promise.”
Kelly laid back down and grinned at him, as he went back to worshiping the woman who was about to make him the happiest daddy in the world.
Chapter 8
