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“Sounds good.” Jessy waited until her mother had left the room before she shook her head in mild irony. “Like I need the caffeine to further jangle my nerves. But it gives Mom something to do.”
“And you, too, I imagine.” Cat held out her gift. “Why don’t you open this? It’s kind of a wedding present. I know Ty plans on leaving right after the ceremony. If I don’t give this to you now, I might not have another chance.” She was rattling on too much, trying to cover the forced brightness in her voice. But the glimmer of sympathy in Jessy’s eyes told her that she wasn’t succeeding.
“Anyway, this is for you.”
She pushed the package into Jessy’s hands. When she carried it over to the bed to open, Cat followed. In short order, Jessy dispensed with the ribbons and wrapping paper to reveal a slim box that bore the Neiman-Marcus name.
“I wanted to get you something personal and romantic,” Cat explained when Jessy opened it. “Something appropriate for a bride. I hope you like it. I hope it looks good.”
Jessy pushed aside the tissue paper and lifted out the naughty silk-and-lace nothing that masqueraded as a nightgown. She looked at it, then turned and, without a word, threw it toward the middle of the floor. It floated down to lay in graceful folds.
“It definitely looks good,” Jessy declared, eyes sparkling with a wickedly impish light.
After an instant of surprise, Cat burst into laughter. Jessy quickly joined in. Cat suddenly found her eyes filling with tears and the ache she had forced deep inside broke loose, threatening to surface. She turned away, determined not to spoil Jessy’s joy. But it was too late; Jessy’s quick eyes had already seen the welling tears.
“Cat.” There was a wealth of sympathy in that single word.
“I’m all right,” she insisted with a sharp toss of her head.
Jessy took a step toward her. “This is why we wanted to postpone the wedding—”
“It isn’t the wedding.” Cat briskly wiped away the tears on her cheeks and battled to regain control of her emotions.
“Then what?” Jessy asked in a gently prompting way.
Without answering, Cat walked over and picked up the nightie, then stood there in the room’s center, looking at the gown. “Did you know that Repp would never make love with me?” she asked in a voice that was too flat and too cool. “Nothing I ever said or did could get him to change his mind. First he said I was too young. Then he thought I should go to college first, saying I might meet someone there. After my first year, he said we should wait until we were married and do it
the right way. I suppose because I am a Calder.” A bitterness crept into her voice. “I loved him, Jessy, but he put me on a pedestal and wouldn’t let me off. I hate him for being so damned honorable, so damned noble. I hate him for leaving me a virgin.” Her voice trembled. “I hate him.”
“Repp was a fool,” Jessy announced.
Cat tipped her head toward the ceiling and expelled a breath that bordered on a laugh, then looked at her brother’s soon-to-be wife, a wry smile tugging at a corner of her mouth. “That’s what I have always liked about you, Jessy. You are always so honest and straightforward about everything—your opinions, your wants, your needs. You’ve never been overly concerned about what other people think. For a long time I didn’t understand that, especially back when I still thought Ty should stay married to Tara. But you’ll be good for him. You’ll be good for each other.”
“Most of the time, anyway.” An answering smile showed briefly on her face before Jessy turned serious again. “Cat—”
“Don’t worry about me.” She deliberately cut her off.
“Actually, I don’t.” The ready admission took Cat by surprise.
“You are made of strong stuff, Cathleen Calder. How could you be otherwise when you are Chase and Maggie’s daughter? I saw it in you a long time ago. Others haven’t, probably because they have been too busy patting you on the head and telling you what a pretty little thing you are.”
“I was wrong.” Cat thoughtfully studied the tall blonde before her. “You are going to be good for all of us.” Without another word, she walked over, tossed the nightie back in its tissue-lined box and clasped both of Jessy’s hands. “If I haven’t said it before—welcome to the family.”
“Thank you,” Jessy replied. Her expression softened without ever losing its look of calm, steady composure.
The bedroom door opened, and both turned as Judy Niles walked in carrying a coffee tray. “Sorry I took so long.” She deftly used her elbow to push the door closed behind her, jiggling the cups in their saucers. “But your father had drunk the last of the coffee and I had to wait for Audrey to make a fresh pot.”
“How is Dad holding up?” Jessy asked with a knowing smile.
“Don’t ask.” Judy rolled her eyes and crossed the room to set the tray on the long bureau. She poured coffee into three cups. “I swear your father is more nervous than he was when we got married.”
“Poor Dad,” Jessy murmured in amused sympathy.
“Your brothers aren’t any better.” Judy Niles brought each of them a cup, then spied the unwrapped gift on the bed. “What’s this?”
“A present from Cat.”
She lifted the negligee from its box. “This is absolutely beautiful, so feminine and”—she paused and looked at them with the same impish gleam that Cat had seen in Jessy’s eyes—“so deliciously naughty.”
