by Rita Herron
"But this time will be totally different," Sophie argued. "This is a fashion show. Designers, fancy clothes, makeup artists—it'll be so much fun."
Maddie glanced down at her baggy sweatshirt and jeans. "I don't even feel like getting dressed up, I just want to stay home and look through my decorating magazines."
"That's the very reason you need to come, Maddie. You're depressed, and I don't like it."
"But I look terrible; I have dark bags under my eyes."
"We have a fabulous makeup artist, he can do wonders with any problem. Come on, Mad. He'll make you look like a million bucks, every man in Savannah will be calling."
Except the one she wanted.
Sure, she'd kidded about enjoying the single life, but she had to admit it—she was the marrying kind. And there was only one man for her.
Only he didn't want her.
"You can keep all the clothes you model," Sophie said. "Oh, please say you'll fill in for me. One of the models has the flu, and the show's tomorrow. I'm really in a bind."
Maddie sighed. "All right. What time?"
Sophie filled her in on the details, and Maddie reluctantly agreed, deciding a new look might help her attract a new man. Then she might be able to finally forget about Chase Holloway.
Chapter 28
"You are going to knock his... I mean the audience's socks off with that dress," Sophie said.
Maddie turned sideways to study herself in the mirror. The royal-blue silk piece shimmered beneath the bright lights, the low-cut neckline and foot-long slit up the side revealing more body than she'd ever dared expose. Except to Chase.
Dammit, this show was supposed to help her forget the infuriating man.
"Are all the models wearing such provocative outfits, Sophie?"
Sophie eyed the form-fitting sheath with a gleam in her eyes. "I told you I'd pick out something special for you, something you can keep to entice the single men in Savannah. You'll have them down on their knees in no time."
Maddie laughed. There was only one man she wanted on his knees—proposing to her. But that hadn't happened and never would. "I'm through with men," Maddie said. "I really don't think—"
A knock rapped at the door, and she looked up in shock to see her brothers standing in the doorway.
Lance's smile looked fake. "Hey, mind if we come in?"
"What in the world are you doing here?" Maddie asked.
Her brothers exchanged guilty looks. Maddie's stomach suddenly contracted with nerves. "What's up, guys?"
Lance shrugged. "We heard you were going to be on the show today, and we thought we'd join the audience and watch."
Reid hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. "We've never been to a live show before."
Maddie gaped at him. "I thought you guys hate... didn't watch the show."
Sophie backed toward the door, shooting Lance and Reid an odd look.
Maddie's queasiness escalated. "Wait a minute, Soph. What in the world is going on?"
Sophie froze and bit down on her Up.
Reid sputtered something about seeing the models, which would have been believable if he'd been able to maintain eye contact.
Lance began to tap his heel on the floor in a nervous gesture.
Then she spotted Jeff Oglethorpe being whisked into the green room across the hall.
Maddie planted her hands on her hips. "The truth, guys? This isn't about a fashion show, is it?"
Sophie shook her head with remorse.
Maddie pointed to her older brother. "Lance, you made it plain how you feel about the show." She shot Sophie a suspicious look. "And the last I knew you two weren't speaking."
Sophie threw up her hands as if she didn't know what to say.
"We reached an understanding," Lance said.
"What?" Reid sounded surprised. He shot a nervous glance at Sophie. "Lance, we have to talk."
"About what?" Lance asked.
"We can't discuss it here," Reid said, glancing between Sophie and Maddie. "Not in front of them."
"You mean, us ignorant, helpless women?" Maddie asked.
Reid's face flushed, and Lance shook his head. "Look, Mad, all we've ever tried to do is take care of you—"
"I don't need taking care of."
Lance inched inside the room. "We love you, Maddie, it's natural to want to protect you."
"Yeah," Reid said. "And I wanted to protect both of you."
"You wanted to protect me?" Lance asked, clearly stunned.
Maddie folded her arms, furious. "Protect me the way you did when you asked Chase to baby-sit me, because you didn't trust that I could decorate the homes for the tour?"
Both her brothers' gaped at her. "You knew?"
"I heard you talking to Chase after the tour."
"Geez, Mad—"
Reid reached for her. "Just listen—"
Maddie backed away from both of them. "No, I told you once to stay out of my business and I meant it. You even followed me to that nudist colony!"
"Well, what in the hell were you doing there?" Lance asked.
"That's not the point!" Maddie shouted.
Reid cleared his throat. "Look, Maddie, forget about that. Just let me tell you about Oglethorpe."
"You're doing it again—interfering!" Maddie jammed her hands on her hips, pacing across the room and peering out the door. "Is Chase here, too?"
"What would he be doing here?" Reid asked, puzzled.
"Aw, blast it all to hell." Lance rammed his hand through his hair, narrowing his eyes at her. "You are in love with him, aren't you?"
Sophie answered for her. "She's been miserable without him."
"Maddie's in love with Chase?" Reid asked.
"So, what if I am?" Maddie cried.
The boys exchanged confused looks.
"That depends on whether or not his intentions are honorable." Reid finally answered.
"His intentions are to leave me alone," Maddie said.
"We'll talk to him," Reid began.
"No, stay out of it. You guys have humiliated me enough." Tears stung Maddie's eyes. "And now you're involving Sophie in your devious plans. How could you?"
Reid gestured toward Sophie. "I still have to talk to you about her."
This time Sophie spoke up. "Why do you have to talk to him about me?"
"It's family stuff," Reid said.
"We should have a private family meeting then," Lance said.
"Anything you have to say about our family can be said in front of Sophie," Maddie said.
Both her brothers stared at her in shock. "What are you saying, Maddie?" Reid turned pale. "That Sophie is part of the family?"
Lance gripped the doorjamb as though he needed it to support himself. "Oh, Lord."
Maddie sighed in exasperation. "What in the world is wrong with you guys?"
Lance dropped into a chair, looking ill. "I was attracted to my own sister?"
"Sister?" Sophie shrieked.
"Technically she'd only be our half-sister," Reid clarified.
"You were attracted to me?" Sophie asked.
"But we don't have a sister?" Maddie cried.
"We might," Lance said.
Reid cleared his throat. "Or we might have a bunch of half-sisters and half-brothers we don't know about."
"You mean you know about Dad?" Lance asked.
"You do, too?" Reid said.
Lance cleared his throat. "I found a letter from Maria—"
"I'm not your half-sister," Sophie cut in.
"Who's Maria?" Maddie asked.
"The woman Dad was having an affair with," Lance answered.
"The nurse at the hospital," Reid said.
They looked at each other in surprise.
"Dad was having an affair with a nurse at the hospital?" Maddie asked in disbelief.
"I didn't know about the affair." Reid looked questioningly at Lance.
"Maybe I was mistaken." Lance shrugged. "I found this letter, and in it Maria said the years knowing
Dad meant a lot to her."
"Yeah, she worked at the sperm bank," Reid said.
"Sperm bank?" Maddie, Lance and Sophie all said at once.
Reid spoke slowly as if he were talking to a daft person, "Where Dad donated his sperm. Maria was a nurse there. I guess they got to be friends over the years."
"Our father donated his sperm to a sperm bank and his girlfriend worked there?" Maddie said.
"Blast it all to hell," Lance mumbled. "That's why he had that sex kit."
Maddie's eyes widened. "Dad had a sex kit?"
"It gets worse." Reid groaned. "I found a picture of him wearing women's clothes."
"Our father was a cross-dresser?" Lance asked.
"He must have been into kinky sex," Reid said.
"Maybe it was some kind of joke," Sophie suggested. "Or a Halloween costume."
"Earth to maniac brothers." Maddie waved her arms as if she were an air-traffic controller. "Tell me where you got all of these crazy ideas."
"They're not crazy, they're true," Reid said in a dark voice. "Apparently during med school, Dad needed some money to help with expenses so he started donating his sperm to this clinic. I guess he enjoyed his... activity so much he kept donating. He might have hundreds of offspring out there."
"He did this for years?" Maddie asked.
"No wonder you said we might have a lot of siblings," Lance added.
"But why did you think Sophie was our sister?" Maddie asked.
"Because she's been asking about our family," Lance said. "And she's done family reunion stories before where surprise siblings show up unexpectedly—"
Sophie raised a brow, a smile tugging at her mouth. "I thought you didn't watch my show, Lance."
"And she's getting ready to do a show on the ethics of sperm banks," Reid added.
"That's the reason you've been so rude to her?" Maddie asked.
"I've been afraid one of Dad's sperm-bank kids would come looking for us, wanting money or to be a part of the family," Reid said.
"I'm not your sister," Sophie said emphatically. "And I had no idea about your father's activities."
"Then why did you keep after me?" Lance asked.
Maddie swung her hands wildly. "Because she wanted a date with you, you moron!"
Lance swiped a hand across his face in shock.
Sophie's face twisted with hurt. "But you thought I knew something about your past and wanted to expose it or worse, that I wanted part of the Summers fortune."
"What Summers fortune?" Reid asked suspiciously.
Lance had the good sense to look contrite. "There is no Summers fortune."
"Rest assured, guys," Sophie said calmly, "hospitals and sperm banks don't give out that kind of information."
"How would you know?" Reid asked suspiciously.
"We did a show on it a year ago, that's the reason we've planned a follow-up episode. Medical files are strictly confidential."
"I know," Reid admitted. "But someone had broken into the hospital records; that's why I was worried."
"It probably has nothing to do with you," Sophie said.
"Maybe I overreacted a bit," Reid admitted.
"This is unbelievable," Maddie said. "Here I thought our family had no secrets and I was feeling guilty about keeping—" Maddie hesitated.
"Keeping what," Lance asked, his eyes narrowed.
"You knew about Dad?" Reid asked.
Maddie shook her head. "No, Mom."
"Mom?" Lance and Reid said at once.
"I have a feeling Mom knew about Dad's... habit." She held up a hand when the boys started to argue. "Mom wasn't quite as innocent as you guys thought. I heard them arguing the night before their accident. Mom wanted a career."
"Mom wanted a job?" Lance squeaked.
"Doing what? I thought she was happy being Suzy Homemaker," Reid added.
"She wanted to be a caterer—"
"Whew." Lance exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. "I thought you were going to tell me the box of sex toys belonged to her."
"It's possible," Maddie said. "She wanted to design erotic desserts."
"What are erotic desserts?" Reid asked.
Maddie gestured with her hands. "Naked people decorated like ice cream sundaes, cakes—"
"Oh, God," Reid groaned.
"Blast it all hell," Lance mumbled, his own face turning scarlet.
Reid dropped his head in his hands. "I can't believe it—both our parents were perverts."
Maddie and Lance nodded miserably.
"Come on, you guys," Sophie said calmly. "Your mother may have just had that book for fun; maybe she was going to cater weddings and parties. And just because your parents enjoyed sex—"
"Our parents didn't have sex!" Lance, Reid and Maddie all exclaimed at once.
The stunned silence that followed was filled with tension. Seconds later, they all burst into laughter.
Everyone but Sophie. She simply glared at Lance. "I hate to break up this family party, but I have a show to do."
Maddie gulped. "What is the show about for real, Soph?"
"Friends," Sophie said. "Forgiving them for mistakes."
"This I gotta see," Maddie said as she turned and left the room. Reid ducked his head and followed.
Sophie moved to follow, but Lance gently grabbed her wrist. "Wait, Sophie. I—"
"This isn't a good time, Mr. Summers."
Lance winced at her icy tone. "Maybe later?"
Sophie shrugged, not meeting his eyes, making Lance feel about two feet tall. He let her wrist go.
Sophie turned her head to look up at him. "Lance, why don't you go sit in the audience? I think you'll enjoy the show, it's called 'Forgive Me, I Was a Fool.' "
Then she turned and left the room in a cloud of anger, her sweet perfume lingering behind to taunt him. Lance hurried to catch up with Maddie and Reid.
"Forgive Me, I Was a Fool"—if ever there was a show he should watch, this episode would be the one. In fact, he could play the lead.
* * *
Maddie found a seat near the front and sat down, still stunned from all her brothers had revealed—and from their misconceptions. Then Sophie emerged onstage and the camera lights began to flash, and she realized that in all the chaos, she still hadn't found out why Sophie had deceived her into coming on the show. Or why Jeff had been in the green room.
Chapter 29
"Thank you, Cynthia, I really appreciate all your help." Chase clutched the small jewelry box in his hand as he walked toward the exit of the Savings and Loan.
"I'm glad to have helped. I really want things to work out for you and Maddie."
"What?" Chase paused mid-stride. "I simply want to—"
"You don't have to explain, Mr. Holloway." Cynthia patted his hand. "Are you going to give her the necklace today?"
"Well, yes. I have a stop to make first though." For some odd reason, Sophie Lane had left a message that it was urgent she see him. Probably about her renovation project, but why would that be urgent? Unless something had happened to Maddie—
His heart thundered in his chest.
Cynthia checked her watch and frowned.
"What is it?"
"I bet she's already left."
"Left for where?"
Cynthia gnawed on her lip as if she'd said too much. "The show."
"What show?" Chase asked, trying for patience.
"Mr. Oglethorpe was going to surprise Maddie by apologizing to her on that Sophie Lane show. He wants to ask her to marry him."
Chase ground his teeth together, seeing red. Maybe that was the reason Sophie had phoned.
"The show should be starting soon." Cynthia checked her watch again, a forlorn expression on her face. "If you hurry, you might be able to catch her before..."
"Dammit." Chase glanced through the window at his car and groaned. "I'll never make it in time. I have a flat tire."
Cynthia smiled and flashed a set of keys. "Come on then, I'll drive. My car can do zero to ninety
in six seconds."
* * *
"She really just wanted to date me?" Lance asked.
Maddie shot him a venomous look. "Yes."
"I guess I blew it big time."
"I'd say that's accurate."
"I still don't understand why you thought Sophie was our sister," Maddie said.
"I assumed Dad had had an affair with this Maria woman, so I thought maybe Sophie was our half-sister when she seemed so interested in our family."
"This P.I. I hired—" Reid started to say.
"You hired a P.I.?" Lance interrupted.
"Yeah, his name is Knobby Smaltz."
"KS," Lance mumbled. "That's what the notation in the book meant."
Maddie jerked Reid's hand. "You hired a P.I. to investigate my best friend?"
"Oww, Maddie, you're hurting me."
"Good, you deserve to be in pain—"
"Shh," several people behind them hissed.
"What did he learn?" Lance asked.
Maddie fumed at him. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves. Don't you dare ask him what he found out about Sophie. She would be devastated if she knew you were snooping into her private life!"
"I'm sorry, Maddie, I guess I overreacted," Reid said.
"Promise me you won't say anything about the P.I. to Sophie," Maddie whispered.
"All right," Reid agreed.
"How could I? She's not even talking to me," Lance muttered.
Maddie pinched his arm. "Promise me, Lance."
"Okay, I promise. If she ever speaks to me again, I won't tell her about the P.I."
Maddie released his arm. "Thank you. And you'd better mean it."
"But the P.I. thinks Chase may be right about Oglethorpe," Reid whispered.
"What about Jeff?" Maddie asked.
"Chase thinks he's responsible for our problems at the sites," Lance explained. "He wanted revenge on us for scaring him that night after you dumped him on TV."
"Or maybe he wanted you to fail, Maddie, so you'd come running back to him," Reid suggested.
Maddie wanted to scream. She would kill Jeffrey Oglethorpe. The sneaky creep had actually taken her mother's heirloom from her, wanted her to fail, then sent her all those flowers and gifts, pleading with her to come back to him. And to think, once she'd wanted to marry him! "This is unbelievable."