Lavender Morning (28 page)

“Maybe Joanne told him the truth about Tess having a…What can we say? A somewhat difficult

personality?”

Sara smiled. “You may be right. Whatever she said, I’m grateful to her, because he asked for my number

and called me. We really did have a lovely time. We talked endlessly about everything. Don’t laugh, but he was

even interested in my sewing. He says I should open a shop.” Sara took a breath. “I know it’s early, but I really

think maybe he’s
the one.
”

“How wonderful,” Jocelyn said with a sigh. “Is he a good kisser?”

“The best.” Sara looked at Joce. “I know he’s my cousin, but how’s Ramsey in that department?”

“Oh, fabulous,” Joce said. “A truly great kisser. The man can’t keep his hands off of me.”

Joce’s words seemed to please Sara a great deal and she started to say more, but a noise from downstairs

distracted both of them. It sounded as though something had happened, as they could hear children shouting.

“What in the world is that?” Joce asked, jumping up and running to the window to look down at the

garden.

If she’d awoken that morning and thought, What is the absolute
worst
thing that can happen to me today?

the answer would have been for one or both of the Steps to show up. Below them, surrounded by every guest at

the party, as though she were a queen and everyone had been waiting for her, was one of the Steps. As always,

there were half a dozen hangers-on with phones stuck in their ears, and there was also a tall, emaciated woman

with cut-glass cheekbones and a neck like a giraffe standing next to Bell.

“It’s them,” Sara said in a whisper. “Or one of them.”

“Bell,” Jocelyn said as she leaned back against the wall, and for a moment she banged her head against it.

“I should have had Rams write them that I got no money, just a falling-down old house. I should have—”

“Who are all those people around her?” Sara asked.

“Her entourage. They spend her money faster than she can earn it.”

“One of them looks like…” Sara’s eyes widened as she stared harder at the scene below them. “Heaven

help us! It
is
!” she said under her breath, then looked at Jocelyn. “I’m sorry,” she said as she put her hand on

Joce’s arm. “Why don’t we get out of here and not see them? We’ll sneak out the garage door and make it to

the cars and drive away. You’ll never even have to see her.”

“It sounds heavenly. Lead the way. I’ll be right behind you,” Joce said as she ran after Sara. “How’d she

even know about this party?”

“There’s an Edilean Web site. Haven’t you seen it?”

“I guess I missed that section. Besides, I seem to see only what people are directing me to see, that is.”

Jocelyn followed Sara down the front stairs at a pace that almost made her trip. “Come on!” Sara hissed as

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3/16/2010 celyn followed Sara down the front stairs at a pace that almost ma

Jude Deveraux - Lavender Morning.html de her trip. “Come on!” Sara hissed as

she crouched down, then ran behind the big kitchen island toward a door.

Never before had Jocelyn seen this reaction to the idea of meeting the Steps. Usually people shoved her

aside to get to the models. But Sara was keeping Joce from a meeting that was guaranteed to be unpleasant.

What a dear friend she was!

Still crouching, Sara reached up and turned the doorknob that led into the garage—and was faced with a

little boy about five. He gave Sara a saucy little grin, then bellowed, “Mom! I found her!”

“Just wait until you see what you get for your next birthday, Jamie Barnes, you little snitch!” Sara said.

“Mom! Aunt Sara called me—”

Sara clamped her hand over the kid’s mouth. “You tell and I’ll make you sorry,” she said into the child’s

ear.

“There you are!” said Vivian, Ramsey’s tall, beautiful, and heavily pregnant sister.

“Mom! Aunt Sara said—”

“Yes, I know, dear, you ratted on her and she threatened you. Since you and your brother are being

babysat by her next Saturday I think you should think twice about tattling.”

The boy looked pale for a moment. “Aunt Sara, I ate two of your shoe cupcakes and they were the best.”

With that, he ran through the garage and out of sight.

“Jocelyn,” Viv said, “you and I have hardly had any time to speak, and I certainly haven’t been able to

thank you for this lovely party. And what a very pleasant surprise it’s been to find out that your sister is—”

“Step!” Sara and Jocelyn said in unison.

“Sorry. To find out that your
step
sister is one of the famous modeling twins. She asked that we find you, as

she can’t stay long.” Viv smiled as she held her arm back to make way for Sara and Jocelyn to go through the

kitchen and out to the back garden. She wasn’t about to let them escape.

“And Sara,” Viv said as they left the house, “Ingrid came with her. I’m so glad. Maybe now things can be

worked out.”

Jocelyn was able to walk forward only because Sara and Viv were behind her. The crowd parted, all of

them smiling fondly as they looked from the tall, very thin, heavily made-up Bell to Jocelyn. Bell had on a couple

of big leather triangles that exposed the left side of her waist, and her right leg was bare from midthigh down. Her

hair was a thick mass of extensions, and a child could have used her earrings as Hula-Hoops.

Compared to the conservatively dressed people around her, she was like a neon sign on a dark night.

Some of the women tried to look scandalized, but Bell looked so radiant that no frown was genuine.

“Darling,” Bell said when Jocelyn was near her, then she did an exaggerated bend, as though Joce were

two feet shorter than she was. Bell gave double air kisses to Joce’s cheeks, then pulled back and said, “How

sweet you look. Really. I would have guessed you to be no more than fourteen years old. I love the no-makeup

look.”

Joce knew that to the wide-eyed observers Bell sounded like an adoring sister. Here she was, a superstar,

flying all the way in from wherever just to attend her sister’s little party. Joce didn’t dare open her mouth because

she knew that what would come out would be “What do you want?”

But neither Bell nor Ash had ever been at a loss for words. “You can imagine my surprise when Ingrid

mentioned that her husband worked at Edilean Manor. Such a small world, isn’t it? And when I saw a photo of

him, I thought they truly
needed
to be together. I’m
such
a romantic. When Ingrid said there was a big party in

Edilean this weekend, and I saw that
you
were catering it with those purple cookies of yours, I just knew I
had

to come and give you my endorsement. Tell me,” Bell said, batting her falsely thick lashes, “you don’t still put that

liquid marijuana in the chocolate cupcakes, do you?”

Three people put the cupcakes down. One woman took a cake from her child.

Jocelyn could think of nothing to say that didn’t involve profanity and physical blows.

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“Well, darling Cindy,” Bell said, “I must go, but Ingrid’s staying on for a few days to be with her husband. I

do hope you can spare him from working in your garden. Oh, by the way, Ash and I had a gift made for you.”

She held out a thin blue velvet box, but Jocelyn knew what was in it, so she kept her hands to her side.

Sara took the box and opened it. The Steps had had the jewel-shaped pieces of coal from Miss Edi set in what

was usually described as “pot metal” and made into a necklace and earrings. They were masterpieces of

tawdriness.

“I hope you get as much enjoyment out of them as Ash and I did.” With that, Bell gave two more air kisses

to Jocelyn, then she floated away into a crowd of young girls who were barely able to control their squeals of

delight.

When the crowd had departed, trailing behind Bell, Sara looked at the jewelry set she held. “Is that coal?”

But Jocelyn’s attention was on the woman Bell had left behind, the woman she’d seen from upstairs. She

wasn’t as tall as Ash and Bell, and she didn’t seem to have that air of believing herself to be the greatest thing that

ever walked the earth, but just the way she held her shoulders gave it away that she was a model. Her beautiful

face was made up to look devoid of makeup, and her clothes were simple but probably cost Jocelyn’s last

year’s salary.

“You must be Ingrid,” Jocelyn managed to say at last, and the woman smiled at her.

“I apologize about that introduction. Bell can sometimes be less than the nicest person on earth, but she did

arrange for me to be here today. Your party looks lovely.” She looked to the side of Jocelyn. “Hello, Vivian. Is

he here?”

“If you break his heart again, I’ll—” Viv said, but her husband put his arm around her shoulders and

nodded toward the back fence.

“This is between them,” he said. “Let Luke work it out with his wife. Come on, I saved you some of those

purple cookies.”

After they left, only Sara, Jocelyn, and Ingrid remained.

“I see him,” Ingrid said, her pretty face melting into a smile, then she hurried toward the flowering trees that

ran along the back of the property.

Turning, Jocelyn saw Luke staring at Ingrid, unmoving, his face unreadable. When Ingrid got to him, she put

her long arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth.

It took Jocelyn several moments to react, then she turned to Sara. “I understand everything now. Keep me

occupied by married Luke so I see no man but the one chosen for me: Ramsey.” Turning, she started toward the

front of the house and her car.

“Joce!” Sara called after her. “Let me explain.”

“There’s nothing to explain,” Jocelyn said when Sara caught up with her. “The town matched me up with

Ramsey, and his married cousin Luke kept me occupied while Ramsey was busy drumming up law business. It

worked perfectly. I’ve never seen a better plan. Did you guys choose my wedding dress for me?”

“Jocelyn, please,” Sara called, but Joce didn’t stop walking.

It took Jocelyn about ten minutes to get home. When she was inside, she locked the door, then went to the

back and the side and locked those doors too. She even checked the windows to make sure they were all

closed and latched. She didn’t want anyone coming inside without her permission.

Her impulse was to pack a suitcase and leave, but she knew she had to remain calm and think about what

she was going to do from now on. It was one thing to have a beloved friend leave her a letter saying that she

knew of the perfect man for her, but it was another to find out that a town full of strangers had been planning her

future.

Jocelyn hadn’t been in the house for more than twenty minutes before there was a polite knock on the

door. She glanced out the side window and wasn’t surprised to see Ramsey and Luke standing there.

Her first thought was to tell them to go away and never return, but instead, she unlocked the door and

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opened it.

“We’d like to explain,” Ramsey said.

“There’s nothing to explain,” Jocelyn said.

“Could we come in?”

“Of course,” she said, standing to one side and letting them into the living room.

They sat side by side on Miss Edi’s yellow couch while Jocelyn took the chair across from them. Ramsey

was in his perfect party clothes, meant to show that he was an up-and-coming young businessman, while Luke

was in jeans and a T-shirt.

“How is your wife?” Jocelyn asked Luke.

“Quite well,” he said, smiling. “She loved your purple cookies.”

“Did she eat an entire half of one?”

“More like a quarter.”

“Would you two stop it!” Ramsey said. “Jocelyn, my cousin and I came here to explain some things that I

think may have been misunderstood by you.”

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“About our intentions.”

“Intentions?” Jocelyn asked. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“I told you she’d be mad,” Luke said as he leaned back against the sofa.

“Because my cousin misrepresented himself,” Ramsey said, and it was the voice of a lawyer, “doesn’t mean

that I have. I have never been anything but honest and clear about my intentions toward you.”

“And they would be?”

“Would be…?” Ramsey asked, not understanding her question.

“She wants to know what you intend to do with her,” Luke said. “Marry her or set her up in a shop, as

Sara’s new boyfriend wants to do with her.”

Ramsey turned to glare at Luke. “This whole thing is
your
fault. Why didn’t you tell her you were married?”

“Never came up,” Luke said, then looked at Joce. “You have any beer?”

“Not for you, I don’t,” Jocelyn said sweetly. “Why don’t you ask your wife? Or does she just send you

checks so you can live well but take on menial jobs?”

Luke’s face turned red with anger, but Ramsey grinned. “She’s got your number. Why don’t you wait for

us outside? Better yet, why don’t you go home and leave us alone?”

Luke didn’t say a word as he started to get up.

“Tell me, Ramsey,” Jocelyn said, “was it me or my house you wanted so much?”

Luke blinked at her a few times, then sat back down.

“How can you say a thing like that? I’ve liked you since before we even met.”