True Love

by Jude Deveraux

  Chapter Thirty

  It was two days later when Victoria saw Jared walking up the path to the kitchen door. It looked like he had just stepped out of the shower and he had a big bouquet of flowers in his hand. Obviously, he was coming to apologize.

  Ken said Jared had been out on his boat all day yesterday. “The chapel’s almost done but we could have used his help. And what have you done to Alix to make her look so gloomy?”

  Victoria put her hand behind her back and crossed her fingers. “This time it wasn’t me. Jared and Alix had a rip-roaring fight.”

  “I can’t imagine that,” Ken said. “They act like they’ve known each other forever.”

  “You’d like to think that they’re clones of you,” Victoria said in disgust, but Ken smiled.

  “So what did they argue about?”

  Victoria shrugged. “He told her he’s going back to New York and Alix is staying here. Looks like it’s over between them. Actually, she’s so down she’s hardly speaking. You think I should take her to a doctor to get her some pills?”

  The hot blood of anger crept up Ken’s neck to his face. “I’ll murder that boy!” he said under his breath, then turned and stomped out of the house.

  As Victoria watched him go, she could only shake her head. “So now you listen to me? I lie, you listen. I’m honest and you run off to play tennis with Toby’s dad. Men!”

  Now, coming toward the house with his arms full of flowers was a contrite-looking Jared. Maybe Victoria should be glad of the sight but she wasn’t. What happened next? He and Alix would make up? That would change nothing. After the wedding Jared would go to New York and Alix would still remain behind. Stay to read Valentina’s journals to her mother?

  Deliver me! Victoria thought. She’d never be able to concentrate with someone reading aloud, and besides, Alix would be lovesick. She’d be looking at her phone constantly, waiting for HRH to call.

  No, it would be better if Victoria hurried this whole thing along. Jared was nearly at the door, so she opened it a bit so it wouldn’t make any noise, then she went into the family room.

  Alix was standing by the window looking at some house plans, but when she heard her mother’s footsteps she shoved them under three bridal magazines.

  “You must be relieved to be done with a man like Jared,” Victoria said rather loudly.

  “We just had an argument. Nothing is ‘done.’ Mother, sometimes I think you don’t really like him.”

  “But, darling,” Victoria said, as she saw Jared come to a halt, flowers in hand and just out of sight, “I adore Jared. I always have, but do you think he’s right for a girl like you?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “He’s a man of the world, dear. He’s used to yachts and all-night parties and those plastic girls who remind him that he’s famous.”

  Alix felt the blood rushing through her body, and just like her father, it was moving upward to her face. “Jared also likes to work and I do too. And that man who sails on yachts also takes care of a lot of people on this island. If anyone needs help, Jared is there to give it.”

  “But how do you fit into this?” Victoria asked, an eyebrow raised in skepticism. Her tone implied that Alix didn’t know what his life was really like.

  “He needs me,” Alix said, half shouting in her anger. “I see the person underneath the public man, behind the famous one. You know something? I think that before me Jared led a very lonely life, with people wanting him for what he could give them or do for them, not for who he is.”

  “But isn’t that what you want from him? To further your career? To become a great success on his coattails?”

  “No!” Alix shouted, then just as suddenly the anger left her. “I did. When I first met him all I wanted was to work for his firm, but not now. Now I want to share my life with him. If he wants to go build huts in Africa, I’ll go with him.”

  “And give up setting the world on fire with your designs? Do you love him that much?”

  “Yes,” Alix said softly. “Yes, I do. I love him more than all the buildings in the world. More than I thought it was possible to love.”

  Victoria’s beautiful face lost its haughty look and once again she was Alix’s mother. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” She opened her arms and Alix ran to her to be enclosed in a loving embrace. Victoria looked over her daughter’s head at Jared, who was silently standing in the doorway.

  With a smile of such warmth that it seemed to illuminate the room, Jared turned away and went outside.

  Jared started to get into his truck, but what he’d heard had left him a little too dazed to be able to drive. When he realized that he was still holding the flowers, he tossed them in the open window and kept walking. He went down the streets of his beloved town, oblivious to the tourists pointing and staring at the perfection of the old houses.

  He went down Centre Street to the JC house, took a right past the bookstore. It was a short walk to Jetties Beach, a place where he could see and hear the ocean.

  He’d just reached the edge of the water when his cell rang. Maybe it was Alix, he thought, but it was a number not in his contacts list. Usually, he wouldn’t pick up, but this time he did. A woman’s nervous voice said, “Mr. Montgomery? I mean, Kingsley. I mean, Jared?”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s me, Izzy.”

  “Alix is okay,” Jared said, “and I’m sorry I made her so miserable.”

  “Oh,” Izzy said. “I don’t know anything about that, but I’m sure you are. That’s not what I called about. Do you have time to talk right now?”

  “Sure,” he said. “What’s the problem?”

  “I don’t want to upset Alix, but I’m going to do a terrible, awful thing to her. I’m not going to show up for my own wedding.”

  “You’re going to leave Glenn at the altar?” Jared asked.

  “No, no! Of course not! He’s going to be with me. The people I’m leaving behind are our parents and relatives who do nothing but constantly bicker and fight.”

  “I don’t understand what you want to do.”

  “Wait, here’s Glenn and he can explain it better.”

  When her fiancé got on the phone, his voice was firm. He was a man protecting the woman he loved. “It’s been bad here, with both our families fighting all the time. I thought for a while it was solved, but it wasn’t. It was just brewing under the surface and it’s erupted again. I didn’t know how awful it was since Izzy usually handles everything, and she could now if she weren’t pregnant.”

  He paused, then began again. “Izzy hasn’t even been able to get rid of those repulsive bridesmaids that were chosen for her. She tried but … Anyway, I feel like a jerk because I didn’t pay more attention to all this, but I thought it was what women did so …” He took a breath. “That’s not what’s important. Yesterday the doctor said that the stress she’s under is causing physical problems. If Izzy doesn’t get some relief from all this, it’s possible we could lose the baby.”

  Instantly, Jared said, “What can I do? Name it and I’ll do it.”

  Glenn said they wanted everything to go ahead as planned, that their relatives would go to Nantucket, but that at the time of the ceremony someone would tell the guests that there would be no wedding. “You—or someone—can say that Izzy and I have eloped to the far ends of the earth. They’re paying for everything so let them enjoy the food and music. It’s just that they won’t have my bride there to torture.”

  “I understand,” Jared said.

  “There’s another thing. Izzy’s afraid to call Alix because she knows how hard she’s worked on this wedding, especially since Victoria showed up. Izzy’s also afraid you’re going to think she’s a bad person for letting everyone down.”

  “Could I speak to her, please?”

  “Yes?” Izzy asked tentatively.

  “Izzy,” he said slowly, “I think this is the wisest thing I’ve ever heard in my life. And any woman who’d choose her child over a weddin
g is at the top of my list of best people.”

  Izzy promptly burst into tears and Glenn took the phone from her.

  “Is she all right?” Jared asked.

  “She’s fine. Everything makes her cry, but then for the last couple of days my mom and hers have made me close to crying. Izzy’s kept most of it from Alix so she’d …” He trailed off.

  “So she’d what?”

  “So Alix would stay on the island with you. Izzy knows that if she told too much of the truth Alix would be here in an instant—as Izzy would do for her. Izzy didn’t want Alix to miss out on … well, on you.”

  Jared couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt. “Listen, Glenn, don’t worry about anything. I’ll lie to everyone about everything. I’ll tell them Izzy is hidden away in my house and ready to come down the aisle. They won’t know until the last minute that there won’t be any wedding. And I’ll make sure there’s so much booze that the guests won’t care. As for the mothers, I’ll sic Victoria on them.”

  “Thank you,” Glenn said, and Jared could hear the relief and gratitude in his voice. “I don’t know many famous people and Izzy says you’re the top of the heap in the architecture world, but if they’re all like you … Well, thanks a lot. Maybe Izzy can relax now. We’re going to fly to Bermuda to get married.”

  “Send us a postcard,” Jared said.

  “Us? As in you and Alix?”

  “Yes. Alix doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to ask her to let me finish the process of making a Kingsley of her.” In the background Jared heard a high-pitched squeal, which showed that Izzy had been listening in.

  “Okay,” Glenn said, “now you’ve done it. I’m going to have to drug Izzy to keep her from calling Alix and telling her.”

  “Are you guys going to be around today? Can I call you later to work out some details?” Jared asked.

  “We’re here,” Glenn said, “and again, thanks.”

  They hung up and Jared put the phone back in his pocket.

  He stood there looking out at the water. Until he’d said aloud what was going through his mind, it hadn’t solidified. But he liked it. He very much wanted to spend the rest of his life with Alix.

  His first thought was that he wanted to talk to his grandfather, but he knew that wouldn’t happen. Besides, Jared knew what the man would say. “First, you have to ask her,” he could hear his grandfather say. The smile that came with that thought reminded him that his grandfather was going to leave on the same day that Jared was going to start his new life.

  As he walked back to town, he thought about how to ask Alix and where. There was only one place this could happen. He had a friend who was an interior decorator and she could help with the first part of this plan. He went to the flower shop where Toby worked and told her what Izzy and Glenn had said and how Jared had come up with a whole new plan.

  “Saturday?” she said. “Lexie and me?”

  “That’s right. I have some things to work out with Izzy, but most of it has already been set up. It’s just a few people who will be different.”

  “Just a few,” Toby said, joking at his simplification of what would be an enormous project.

  Smiling, Jared kissed her cheek. “I know you can do it. I have to go. I have a lot to do.”

  “I’m sure you do. By the way, congratulations.”

  “She hasn’t said yes,” Jared said.

  “Her eyes have and that’s what counts.”

  He paused by the door and looked back at Toby. “Do you think we can pull this off?”

  “Of course,” she said. “Lexie and I will do everything.”

  The minute the door closed, Toby wanted to indulge in a few tears of exasperation—but she didn’t have time for that. Jared had said that under no circumstances was Victoria to find out about this, but this secret wasn’t going to be easy to keep. Tell one wrong person and everyone on the island would know.

  Toby had only met Jilly once, when she’d thanked her for tackling the greenhouse, but the good thing was that Jilly didn’t know anyone on Nantucket to tell. Toby called her. Without preamble, she asked, “Can you keep a secret from Ken?”

  “Probably not.”

  “Then we’ll have to include him in everything, as I don’t have time for cloak and dagger. At least not for the dagger. Sorry, I’m rambling. Ken is all right but Victoria is another matter. Do you think you can keep Ken from telling Victoria a really big secret that has everything to do with Alix?”

  “I think Ken might sell his soul for that opportunity.”

  Toby laughed. “That’s good. Sort of. First of all, we’re missing a man. Could you possibly supply one?”

  “Give me year, size, make, model, color, and I can find exactly what you need from my relatives.”

  Again Toby laughed. Maybe what Jared had asked her and Lexie to do wasn’t going to be so difficult after all.

  As soon as she hung up, Jilly called Ken.

  “Have you seen Jared?” he immediately asked.

  “No, but I’ve heard what he’s doing.”

  “So have I!” Ken said fiercely.

  Jilly could tell by his voice that he was angry. “You don’t approve?”

  “Of Jared leading my daughter on? Of slick-talking her, then dumping her? You’re damned right I—”

  “Ken!” Jilly said loudly. “I think you better listen to what I have to tell you—and do you have a tuxedo?”

  That question shut him up long enough to listen to what Jilly had to say.

  As for Jared, he only walked a block before opening the door to a jewelry store. “What do you have in size five?” he asked the man who owned the shop.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Alix spent the day with her mother, going from one store to another and looking at everything from cheeses to bridesmaids’ gifts to cuff links for the groomsmen.

  “Mother, I think Izzy is doing all this. You seem to forget that it’s her wedding and not mine.”

  “How could I forget something like that? When you get married, I’ll need a year to plan.”

  “Good,” Alix muttered. “By the time I get married, I’ll be too old to shop for myself.”

  Victoria took her daughter’s arm. “Jared still hasn’t called you?”

  “No, not a word. No call, text, email, carrier pigeon, nothing.”

  “Ken said Jared went out on his boat yesterday so maybe he’s still there. No! Wait. He got back last night. Maybe he’s been busy with some new commission.”

  “Without me.”

  “Oh, heavens, Alix! You must cheer up. It isn’t the first time you’ve been in love and it certainly won’t be the last.” Victoria stopped to admire some shoes in a window, then looked across the street at Sweet Inspirations. “How about some chocolate?”

  “No, thanks,” Alix said, and looked at her mother. “What did you do when the man you loved didn’t call?”

  “Never happened,” Victoria said.

  “No man has ever not called you?” Alix asked with interest. Never before had she asked her mother about something like this.

  “That’s happened. It’s just that I’ve never been in love. At least not the kind you mean.” She started walking.

  Alix hurried after her mother. “You never told me that before.”

  “I’ve never told anyone. I write books of great passion and of everlasting, undying True Love. If I ever get hold of Valentina’s journal, and if I should be so lucky as to meet the Kingsley ghost, I plan to write a great saga about a love that was so deep it survived death. It’s all wonderful to read and write about, but outside my books I’ve never felt it.”

  Alix was blinking at her mother. You could live with a person all your life and not know fundamental facts about them. “What about that guy Rockwell? You liked him a lot.”

  “That was pure sex.”

  “Oh.” Alix was torn between wanting to hear and not wanting to hear from her mother. “I did think that was why you liked that young man André. I never t
old you that he made a pass at me. I was about sixteen then.”

  “Darling, André made passes at everyone. At your seventeenth birthday party I found him in a closet with one of the male waiters. He asked me to strip from the waist up and join them.”

  “Just the waist up?” Alix put her hand up. “Don’t answer that. What about Preston? I liked him.”

  “You liked the gifts he gave you. When I saw him folding your laundry but leaving mine in the basket, I told him to get out.”

  Alix took her mother’s arm in her own. “I’m sorry. I had no idea, but then I’ve seen so many men make fools of themselves over you, I always assumed there was love involved.”

  “I seem to attract the wrong kind of man. They don’t look at me and see a two-story colonial and three kids.”

  “But Dad did,” Alix said, then grimaced. “Please don’t tell me anything horrible about my father.”

  “There’s nothing bad. He grew up in an easy, sheltered world where everyone knew their place. I was young and from a very different world. I think I was exciting to him. For a while, anyway. When it got bad between his parents and me, he ran away and hid.” Victoria squeezed Alix’s arm. “All that was long ago and doesn’t matter now. Besides, your father is in love.”

  “With Jilly?” Alix had been so overwhelmed with wedding and shower plans that she’d spent little time doing anything else. She certainly hadn’t seen that her father was in love.

  “Yes. They’re mad for each other. I can see it already.”

  Alix sighed. “Well, Mom, I guess it’s just you and me. Again. Jared offered me a job at his firm, but I don’t know if I should take it. If I had to see him with another woman, I would probably fall down dead.”

  “You’re going to find that you can stand a lot more in life than you think you can. Of course you’ll take the job.” They were near the wharf now, at the Juice Bar. “Do you still love peanut butter ice cream?” Victoria asked.

  “I do. And do you still like cherry chocolate chip?”