No Perfect Secret
Page 28
Anna hugged the older woman. “They are just perfect. The very best gift I’ve ever received. I don’t know how to thank you. Both of you,” she added, including Albert who had stood as Frank’s best man.
Louise patted her shoulder. “You just did.”
Albert cleared his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing like a ball on a string. “I was just doing a favor for a friend.”
The last bottles of champagne were opened, more toasts raised, invitations to Sanibel Island passed around again, as well as Lila telling more stories of the GREAT War in the Philippines. Helen shared how incredible the pyramids in Egypt were and how sly and enterprising the Russians. Mr Charles and Albert discussed Clive Cussler and his cars. Joan Neal perked a pot of coffee ‘because everybody needed to ‘down a cup’ before they got on the road again’. Anna reheated hors d’oeuvres in the oven and sliced more wedding cake, serving it along with the antipasto Vincenzo and Gina had sent as a wedding gift.
A half-hour later the front door slammed.
“Oh, Frank’s home,” said Anna. “I guess he got his parents to the airport safe and sound.”
“Get naked, babe! Honeymoon time—” boomed cheerily from the foyer, through the living room and the dining room and into the kitchen where it landed on a whole raft of startled faces. Caburn followed his words into the kitchen and stopped dead. A deep fuchsia climbed his cheeks.
“Ungh…ungh…ungh,” he sputtered.
“Oh, dear,” said Mr Charles.
Joan laughed outright.
Helen said, “Just like a man.”
“On the road again,” hummed Clarence, grabbing the Tupperware to which he had added several extra slices of groom’s cake. He pushed past Caburn, JoJo hard on his heels.
Trying not to laugh, Anna helped Mrs Charles with her coat, placed the venison roast squarely into Mr Charles’ hands, found Helen’s purse, kissed Lila, hugged Joan, thanked Louise and Albert once again and ushered all out the front door amidst more congratulations, and not a few subdued snickers.
She gently closed the door, set the lock and leaned against it for one brief moment before joining her husband in the kitchen. She found him loading Louise’s gold-rimmed plates into the dishwasher. Anna smiled and put her hand on his. “I’ll take care of that later. Would you like coffee? Another slice of cake?”
“I made a fool of myself. Did I make a fool of myself?” He had loosened his silvery-blue tie against his pristine white shirt, the cuffs rolled back to elbows. His uncuffed silk slacks hung on his frame to advantage and broke perfectly on his dress shoes—done so at Mr Charles’ insistence. His blond hair, just long enough now to hint at curls, was awry.
“No you did not. You said and did exactly the right thing. It got them all out of here. Alone at last.”
He put his arms around her and drew her close. “I hope I never say exactly the right thing again in my life.” He spoke with such intense dismay, Anna laughed.
“I can cope with it.”
Caburn looked into her eyes. Yes, she could cope. She had coped well with every mind-numbing event over these past five months. Her name changed twice, back to her maiden and now to his. Meeting his parents for the first time and adoring them and they her. Not the least of it was the brief visit to the funeral home to see Kevin Nesmith one last time. The follow-up to make certain Clara-Alice was in a good place. The sale of her home and the saying of goodbye to her former life. All had been a bit sad for her, but he felt he had witnessed a miracle happen as she metamorphosed into full bloom and a new feminine allure under his love and caring. He thought the full perfection of her life and his was yet to come. Not that perfection was the goal. He knew he could give her one more gift and that this moment, caught like a fly in amber, would always be his to cherish.
He pressed his lips lightly to her hers. “What do you say? Shall we get naked and go make a baby?”
For a moment Anna said nothing. He watched her face alight with wonder. Then she said. “Yes. Let’s do.”
THE END
Thank you for taking time to read No Perfect Secret.
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Thank you,
Jackie Weger
A note from the Author, Jackie Weger
I hate writing these dang bios. I was born, I'm still living. That ought to be enough. I once was married, but now I'm not. I raised five kids, but they didn't like the way they were raised, so now I just raise tomatoes. I write old-fashioned novels, funny or sad, wordy old things, full of clichés because I know what they mean and you do, too. The muscle I most admire in a man is between his ears, so I don’t write titillating sex scenes because you already know where the body parts go and you don’t need an anatomy lesson from me. As I recall bedroom events, it was fifteen minutes and he turned over and went to sleep. I got up, changed diapers or washed dishes or, ironed my clothes for work the next day.
I don’t write about bad boys because bad boys are self-centered, eat Stupid for Breakfast, make for bad men and worse fathers. I anchor my stories with good girls yearning to find an honest, hard-working man of integrity so they can have babies, stay home, go to yard sales and watch soap operas or reality shows—which I never had time to do.
I once moved to Central America where I lived first on an island off the coast of Panama, and later in a dry Pacific Rainforest—except it is seldom truly dry. I lived as many of the natives in a small village carved out of the jungle. During the day, I sheltered beneath a thatched roofed bohio, cooked with wood on a native stove, bathed in the River Camito, dispatched snakes with a machete and harvested mandarinas, oranges, bananas, mangos and coffee. At dusk, I retired to my recama, a minuscule sleeping room where I read by lantern or candle light. I slept beneath a net while overhead tiny fruit bats taught their young to fly and geckos scampered over walls. I sometimes volunteered at a Sister’s of Mercy Mission where the focus was on Kuna Indian woman and children. Once I’d saved enough money to give myself a new start stateside, I returned to discover a new innovation—the Kindle.
I love ebooks. In an earlier life, I wrote Romance novels for Harlequin and have a couple of million books in print worldwide. Venturing into the universe of eBooks is a wonderful new experience, along with the opportunity to revise and publish some on my early timeless favorites to digital venues.
Until last year, the only electronic device I was familiar with was my ATM card, so I’m just learning my way around the Internet, but you can...
Connect with me here:
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My most popular books today are Finding Home with over 250 Reviews and The House on Persimmon Road with over 150 Five Star Reviews.
In the scheme of things those numbers of reviews are not many—but they mean the world to me because some kind reader took time out of her busy life to post them.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
A Note from the Author
; Weger, Jackie, No Perfect Secret