Caught Between a Lie and True Love (Caught Between series Book 1) (21 page)

Matilda’s daughter, the bitch
.

Nearly lost the Prom Queen status too. No way would she let it happen again.

“Del, get a grip,” she breathed out as she forced herself to drop the edge of the curtain, blink away the dizziness, and put her hand to her chest. Beneath her palm, her heart pounded, and while she watched Olivia’s relatives leave the house for the day, she focused on calming thoughts—sparkly wedding bells and a dozen bridesmaids in rose taffeta lined up to attend her every request.

And Brody all fine in his tuxedo, standing at the front of the filled-to-the-rafters church, anxious to put a ring on her finger and make her his.

All the while, she made a mental note of the things she still needed to do before the big day. Nails manicured, hair color touched up, cake to pick up, hall to book. Maybe she’d even get a Brazilian wax for the honeymoon.

And get Brody voted in as Mayor.

At last, everyone one had left except for the porn queen. Delores turned away from the window, and as her gaze landed on the gown hanging in the center of her living room, butterflies erupted in her stomach. Brody was devoted to her and only her. There wasn’t room in his life for any other person.

Except that her conversation with Brody—the one she’d had last night in her dream—kept rolling around in her brain.

“How long have we been friends, Brody?”

“Practically since before we were born.”

“I’ve never interfered in your life.”

“But you’re going to start now?”

She’d wanted to strangle him. Instead, in her dream, she’d forced herself to be calm, caring…a fricking friend.

“She’s going to break your heart, Brody.”

“My heart wasn’t exactly involved when you walked in here, Del.”

With only a few days to the planned wedding date, the lack of cooperation of the groom was starting to grate on her nerves. It shouldn’t be so hard to get him down the aisle. Maybe all she needed was a little leverage.

And Paige out of the way.

Sweaty and panicky, she stopped to check her appearance before heading out of the house. Her reflection stopped her cold.

The sweat shirt and sweat pants she’d been forced to wear this morning, because her own clothes suddenly didn’t fit, were wrinkled and unwashed. She’d pulled them out of the back of her closet, not bothering to check their condition.

The sweats weren’t even the worst part of her appearance. She’d foregone her morning shower, finger combed her unwashed hair, and now it hung lank and dull around her pale, makeup-less face. She licked her palm to smooth down the unattractive cowlick on the top of her head.

Delores shifted closer to the mirror. Was that a cold sore forming on her upper lip?

She gasped and reared back. In a last ditch attempt to control herself, she yanked the mirror off the wall and stuffed it in the back of the hallway closet.

Karie-May consultant, my ass
, Delores thought as she grabbed the DVD from under her mattress, and left the house without locking the door. She stomped through the backyard, across the alley, past Olivia in her garden, and pounded on the back door.

After several long minutes—minutes which had driven Delores to the point of raging madness—the very svelte porn actress answered the door, her narrowed gaze sweeping the length of her guest, one perfectly shaped eyebrow arched. “Delores. Always a pleasure. Can I help you with something?”

She held up the DVD so the actress could clearly see the cover. “This. You tell Paige that if she doesn’t leave Brody alone, I’ll show this to everyone in town.”

“Go ahead.” Lisa studied her fingernails and smirked. “Of course, you realize the one you’ll hurt the most will be Olivia. I say, go for it.”

“Olivia?” Delores clasped the DVD to her chest and backed up a step. “I didn’t think of what it would do to Olivia.”

“Of course not,” the other woman said smoothly as she looked down her long elegant nose at her, as though Delores were lower than pond scum. “Was there anything else?”

And when Delores didn’t say a word, the bitch banged the door closed in her face.

Delores stumbled backward down the steps, across the sidewalk. And that’s when she saw the gate between Olivia and Brody's house.

If Matilda discovered the porn DVD mixed in with
Finding Nemo
and
Dumbo
, she’d flip. The straight-laced old bag would have Hope out of the house so fast, it would make Brody's head spin.

And then Delores could move right in, and any fallback on Olivia would be Matilda’s fault.

Why didn’t she think of this plan in the first place?

She slipped through the gate into Brody's yard, found an unlocked basement window, and shimmied through the narrow opening.

She tiptoed up the stairs and into the living room. Even though she was positive there was no one home, she couldn’t take the risk of being caught.

A car horn beeped outside and she jumped, then hurried to plant the DVD right between the G rated movies. Retracing her steps, she shimmied back out the basement window.

By the time she rolled onto the grass, she was panting and sweating and cursing stupid men—Brody in particular—for being blinded by lust. So when the cell phone in her bra vibrated, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Delores thrust her hand down the top of the sweat shirt, dug out the sweat covered phone, and punched the talk button. “Hello?” she whispered into the mouthpiece, in case anyone was out in their yard.

“Delores, this is Reverend Vail. I just want to confirm that you’ll be free to play the organ for the Voss Peterson’s baby christening this Saturday.”

“But my wedding.” She hissed out a breath of air. “I’ll be right down there and we can straighten this out in person.”

She thumbed the disconnect button, shoved the cell back into her bra, crouched down to slip along the side of the fence, and stomach-crawled her way into the back alley. Huffing and puffing, she stopped at her house to toss her purse over her shoulder, then jogged down one street after another, until she finally reached the church.

By the time she scaled the half dozen steps leading to the front door, she wanted to sit down and cry. Her legs felt like lead, her lungs were ready to explode, and the entire way there, she’d felt the jiggle of her belly with every step she took.

She clung to the stair railing, bent at the waist, and drew in a deep breath, blew it out, and repeated it until she could feel her strength return.

At last, she pulled herself up the stairs and entered the church through the front doors.

It was dark and cool inside, and she felt a shiver move quickly through her body. As she entered the main church, she froze.

Reverend Vail stood near the pulpit with Matilda and the Judge. The three of them were staring at her, mouths open.

Delores took a deep breath and channeled sleek, svelte, and pulled together. She strolled up the aisle.
Smile
. “Hi everyone.”

Matilda snapped her gaping mouth closed while disapproval claimed her features. “Delores, you look a fright.”

“Sorry,” she apologized, but what she really wanted to do was scream
shut up, you old bat
. “I was moving some bushes in the yard and didn’t stop to change because this sounded urgent.”

“Oh, well.” Matilda glanced toward the minister. “George, Delores would love to play the organ for the christening.”

Gritting her teeth, Delores moved up the stairs toward the minister. “Reverend Vail, may I speak with you privately.”

The Reverend took a step back before he seemed to catch himself. He clutched his bible to his chest and shook his head. “Whatever you have to say, child, you can say it in front of Matilda and Harry.”

Delores realized this was the perfect opportunity to out everyone. She could take care of the wedding details in private later. She turned her back on the Reverend, and faced Matilda and the Judge. “I lied. I really wasn’t moving bushes. I’ve been concerned about Lisa’s influence on Hope and this morning I finally realized where I had seen her before.”

“I’ve seen her too,” the Judge muttered.

The Reverend nodded. “Me too, but I can’t quite place her.”

Power built up in the cavity of her chest and she announced, “She’s a porn star.”

Silence ensued. The Reverend and the Judge blushed. Matilda pinned both men with a
gotcha
look, then turned to Delores. “And how would you know this?”

“Oh—well—” In a moment of panic, she blurted, “I saw her on the cover of a porn movie in Brody's DVD collection.”

Matilda crossed her arms over her matronly chest and tapped the toe of one shoe against the floor. “You knew Brody had a porn collection, yet you didn’t bother to tell me?”

Oh, so not the way she meant for this to go. She thought fast and reacted on instinct. “I just saw it this morning. I went by your house to tell you about it, but you weren’t home.”

“Delores, you’re lying to me. If your daddy was here, he’d be so disappointed.”

The anger she’d pushed down all those years ago while she’d buried her daddy beneath the rose bush in the corner of her yard burst free. “Oh, shut up, you old hag. Don’t you bring my daddy into this conversation. Especially in this church where he used to sit every Sunday, pretending to be pious and pure, while what he was really doing was planning how he was going to screw his neighbors that week.”

As Matilda’s mouth thinned into a narrow line on her ugly old face, Delores rounded on the two men. “Reverend Vail, I booked the church for a wedding this Saturday and I will not change my plans for anyone. You will march over to your phone right now and inform those people that the christening can wait a week. And if they don’t like it, they can damn well go to your competition.”

As the Reverend gasped, Delores turned to the Judge. “And you—you are going to man up, quit sucking up to this old bag that you think you love, and help me prove that Jeb Calhoun is a fraud.”

Delores didn’t wait for any of them to reply. She stomped out of the church and headed toward the coffee shop, in desperate need of a gallon of ice cream, like a junkie on crack.

As she stood in the line up waiting her turn, she studied the menu over the counter. Blueberry and pineapple and strawberry combined. Maple and bacon and chili peppers. The insatiable desire for a taste of homemade butterscotch-walnut ice cream hit her right in the tastebuds.

Fortunately, she’d always been able to eat like a horse and not gain a pound.

Confident in her ability to eat anything, she patted her trim waist and encountered the bulge of fat above the waistline of her sweats. It stopped her cold, and when the boy behind the counter asked for her order, she gave in to vanity and ordered a sugarless, cream-less cup of java, then headed for the nearest table.

Ugg
. She hated black, unsweetened coffee. But as she slid onto a chair, she felt the elastic waistband cut into her stomach and knew that she had no choice.

If she kept being a glutton, by Saturday, the wedding gown wouldn’t fit.

The image of how she’d looked in the gown filled her mind.

It had been perfect, pushing up her breasts to make them appear fuller, nipping her waist to give her that 1950’s look. If she half closed her eyes—just so—she could tune out the din in the coffee shop and envision how she’d look as she walked up the aisle of the church into Brody's waiting arms.

Wow, she never realized before how much she looked like Jackie O when she married the first time and became First Lady.

Delores envisioned the upcoming Fourth of July parade. She’d bring out the convertible, put down the top, and while Mayor Brody sat behind the steering wheel, she’d wave to her screamingly loyal subjects.

First Lady
.

She sighed, satisfied that everything was going according to plan.

And that’s when she heard old man Vaughan’s announcement drift through the coffee shop.

“The Calhoun chit is neck-in-neck with Delores now. Who wants to up their bet?”

Delores saw Jeb Calhoun pull a roll of bills out of his pocket, peel off a few, and toss them onto the table in front of old man Vaughan. As he turned, he caught her eye and winked.

The panic morphed into something wicked and familiar—red hot fury—and Delores jumped to her feet, dumped the sugarless, cream-less java into the garbage container, and ignoring the looks that came her way, shouldered her way to the front of the line, grabbed the kid behind the counter by the shirt front, and got in his face. “Give me a gallon of Rocky Mountain Triple Fudge ice-cream with a side order of whipped cream.”

As he hurriedly retrieved the bucket and shoved it into her arms, her fat cells belted out a rousing chorus of
Hallelujah
.

From the far corner of the coffee shop, old man Vaughan’s thin reedy voice rose above the banging and clanging of people and cups. “It’s official. The Calhoun gal is now in the lead and it’s 50 to 1 in her favor.”

Delores stomped across the coffee shop muttering, “I need another plan. Maybe a lynching…or better yet, a candidate debate.”

With something extra special for that man-stealing bitch, Paige.

She’d throw a party for the Mayor candidates and make her special pound cake, just like she’d made for her daddy and husband before.

And if that didn’t bring Brody around, then she’d poison him too.

Calm as she could outwardly appear, Delores sat down at the nearest table, tore the lid off the ice cream container, grabbed a spoon off the table beside her, and dug in. While she indulged her palate, she opened her purse, pulled out a pen and her wedding journal, and made a quick note beside the wedding gown pasted to the front page.

Get rid of the bad seed before it takes root and flourishes.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Harry was in love with her?

Matilda couldn’t get Delores’s declaration out of her thoughts no matter how hard she tried. So she alternated between flying high and hitting rock bottom. Because, after all, what good was it if Harry loved her if he still intended to pack up his stupid motorhome and head off for parts unknown?