A quick glance down the table showed a mixture of shock and embarrassment as eyes dropped, hands fidgeted. Madeline and Helen shook their heads. Their father’s jaw was lucky it didn’t smack the table when it dropped open. Lacy’s glare shot daggers at an oblivious Kaylie.
Danica sprang to her feet. “Nothing like a little joke to end the toasts. Um...” She lifted her glass and looked at her sister, who was deep in a heated whispering conversation with Chaz. “Kaylie, I love you, honey. I love everything about you, and that includes your poor timing. Chaz, more power to ya, sweetie. She’s a firecracker, but the best kind of firecracker, and I wouldn’t change her for the world.” Danica breathed a sigh of relief when everyone laughed, including Chaz. “Mom.” She wanted so badly to yell, How does Kaylie know? She had the sneaking suspicion that her mother had played her for a fool, but that was not something to be spoken of in public. No matter what Kaylie thought. “I love you,” she said to her mother. She turned back to Blake and took his hand. “Blake, my dear, sweet Blake. I have just as many painful traits as my sister does, and I also have every faith that you’ll find a way to love me despite them. I love you.”
“Lacy.” She waited until Lacy finally looked at her to continue. “You are everything I could have hoped for in another sister, and my only regret is that we didn’t meet much sooner.”
Lacy’s smile couldn’t quite camouflage the anger hovering in her eyes, aimed at Kaylie.
The food was brought to the table, and Danica walked as calmly as she could to her sister’s side and grabbed her by the arm. “Come with me to the ladies’ room?” she whispered.
“After I feed the kids,” Kaylie said.
Danica yanked her from her seat. “Now.” She smiled down at Chaz, whose nod told her that he understood completely what she was doing, and if Danica had read him right in that flash of a second before she pulled Kaylie down the hall, he was thankful that she was handling what he had tried unsuccessfully to handle himself. Sisters didn’t have to watch their P’s and Q’s. There was no risk of divorce from a sister, and Danica was counting on that.
“What is wrong with you?” Kaylie asked as Danica dragged her down the corridor.
Danica fumed. She heard the fast footfalls behind her and could only guess at who was on her heels. Lacy? Her mother? Hell, at this point it could even be Madeline. And she was shocked that Camille and the girls hadn’t come running after them yet. She knew that storming out of the restaurant was not a graceful move. But she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to play these games for one more minute.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Danica barged into the ridiculously large sitting area of the ladies’ room with Kaylie in tow, and before she could get her bearings, the door swung open and in walked her mother, Madeline, a very angry Lacy, Camille, Chelsea, and Marie.
“Oh my God. Is anyone left out there?” Danica said, exasperated.
“Not anymore,” Sally said as she and Nancy walked in with Max behind them. “Unless you count teenagers, men, or Chaz’s family, whom I assumed you didn’t want involved, so I told them that sometimes you got sick, Danica, and we’d check on you.”
“Thank you,” Kaylie said, “but what the hell is going on?”
Her mother stormed into the bathroom and fumed. “Kaylie Elizabeth, what did you just do?”
“What is everyone so up in arms about?” Kaylie said, pulling away from the eyes that had her pinned beside Danica.
“Have you lost your filter?” Danica spat. “Do you know what you just said out there, in front of everyone we know and love?”
Kaylie wrinkled her brow. “I thanked Dad. His leaving did actually help me in the long run.”
“Kaylie!” Danica and her mother said in unison.
Lacy broke through the group and faced Kaylie head-on. It was like looking at twins with opposite wigs. “How did you know they kissed?” she spat.
“Oh, is that what this is all about?” Kaylie said like she was talking about a new dress. “I thought I did something wrong. Mom told me.”
“Mom told you?” Danica turned toward her mother, too angry to speak.
“Danica, calm down, please,” her mother said.
Camille crossed her arms. “Wait, so it’s true? You kissed your ex-husband at your daughter’s wedding, with his wife right there? Oh, Mrs. S., this just keeps getting better and better. I mean, after seeing Max with hottie the other night—”
“Camille!” Max turned her back to the group.
“What? You gotta admit the guy’s a total beefcake. I feel like the old married one here. Between Lacy’s sexy calls from Dane and the way Sally and Gage were drooling over each other like two dogs in heat, and—”
Danica’s jaw hung open. How did I miss all of that?
“Okay, okay, just stop.” Madeline held her hands up to shush the murmurs. “Suffice it to say that weddings have a way of bringing love to the air. And revenge,” she added.
Danica turned a hot glare on her mother. “This is why you told me not to tell Kaylie? It wasn’t to protect her, or Dad, or Madeline, or Lacy. It was because you had already told her? Why wouldn’t you just tell me that?”
“Oh, Danica.” Her mother sank into one of the armchairs. “Huh, so this is why they call this a ladies’ lounge instead of a ladies’ room. God, these chairs are comfy.”
“Mom!”
“Okay, okay. Danica, you’re a smart woman. You can reason yourself in or out of anything, but you coddle Kaylie like she’s still a little girl.”
“Mm-hmm. You do,” Camille said.
“Do you think? Not so much, maybe like a teenager?” Marie added.
“No, she’s done it her whole life. She protects her from everything,” Chelsea said with a roll of her eyes.
“Stop, okay. Just stop.” Danica’s head spun. “I was protecting Kaylie from having her wedding weekend ruined by something that you and Dad did. She just got over being angry at you two years ago and it still seems like it was yesterday. And as far as Dad’s concerned. Kaylie”—she looked at her sister—“you can’t tell me that when she told you, it didn’t make you want to lash out at him.”
“No, you’re right. I wanted to lash out at both of them, but then Mom explained why she did it, and”—Kaylie shrugged—“I guess it just all made sense. She showed him what he was missing and threw it in his face. I was kinda proud of her. But I didn’t know that you didn’t want me to say anything to Danica or in front of anyone else,” she said to her mother.
“That’s kind of what this is our little secret means,” her mother said.
Danica let out a breath and flopped into the other chair. “So, you didn’t trust me to tell Kaylie? And you lied to me about the kiss?”
“No, that’s not it. I knew that if I told Kaylie myself, she’d get it, and I thought that if I told you, you’d tear it apart like a therapist and we’d spend many hours debating the whys and wheres of it all before you realized that what I had told you was the real reason that I did it. It was easier to call it a mistake.” Her mother leaned forward and reached for Danica’s hand. “Danica, honey.”
Danica pulled away. “Easier doesn’t make it right. I get that you thought I might overthink it, but you chose to tell Kaylie over me?” Had there been more secrets over the years? Of course, there must have been. What had ever made Danica feel like she was the one her parents trusted? Whatever it was, surely it was exactly why she felt the need to protect her sister.
“I can see your brain pulling apart this whole thing,” her mother said.
“It’s just, I’m not sure why, but I always thought it was me that you trusted, and that Kaylie was somehow more delicate, thin-skinned.”
Kaylie piped up. “Thin-skinned? Do you have any idea how much of a beating girls like me get? I knew that everyone else thought that I was a dumb Barbie, but not you, Danica. You’ve never treated me like that. Is that what you’ve thought all along?”
How did things spiral this far out of control? “What? No.
Kaylie, you are anything but a dumb Barbie.”
Kaylie crossed her arms. “Thank you.”
“I never thought you were a Barbie either,” Chelsea added quietly.
“Me either,” Marie said.
Kaylie smiled at them, then turned back to her sister. “Then what, Danica? Are you surprised that Mom and I have secrets?”
“Well, kinda, yeah,” she admitted.
“I’m her daughter.”
“I’m your sister,” Danica said.
“Exactly,” Kaylie added. “Look, Dan, I love you to pieces, but Mom’s right. Sometimes you pick things to death, and you try to fix everything. It’s who you are, and I love that about you. But there are times that I just want someone to listen and understand, not necessarily fix whatever’s broken.”
“I can do that,” Danica said.
Kaylie laughed. “Of course you can, Miss Fixer.”
Danica threw her head back. “Oh God, I am Miss Fixer, aren’t I?”
“So am I,” Lacy said with a wave as she moved to Kaylie’s side. “I want everything neat and tidy and put onto organized little shelves.”
“That’s your father’s influence,” Madeline said.
Danica looked at her friends watching her with a mixture of pity and intrigue, and she began to laugh. A quiet, under-her-breath laugh, which grew louder as her friends watched her with what was definitely pity.
“What is so funny?” Kaylie asked, unable to keep the smile from her lips.
“Me. Us. You.” Danica bent over, caught in another wave of laughter that suddenly became contagious. “My own mother didn’t trust me enough to tell me what she did? And look at them.” She waved toward her mother. “Mom and Madeline!” Danica blurted out. “What must Dad think? Both his wives are now friends? What the hell is that all about?”
“You think your mom doesn’t trust you to tell you things? My mother tells me everything.” Lacy’s voice became animated. “Oh, now that was a night to remember,” she mocked. “And when she stumbles out of the bedroom with Dad, thinking I’m not in the room, and they’re all over each other. Forget you ever saw that, but oh my, was that the best kiss ever!” She laughed until tears fell from her eyes.
“Wait, wait, I’ve got one,” Camille added. “How about my drunken mother?” She lowered her voice to a husky tone. “Hey, sugar, pour Mama Bear another vodka, and bring one to the naked man in my bedroom, too.”
The room silenced.
Camille threw her hands up. “Kidding! Duh!”
Danica fell back into fits of laughter once again, and as she finally tried to regain control, her stomach muscles clenching in pain, she looked at her mother and thought, You were protecting me, and I just never realized that I needed protecting.
Chapter Forty
“You and Gage? Dogs in heat?” Danica said as she hugged Sally goodbye.
“Trust me, if there were anything going on there, you’d be the first to know.” Sally glanced at Gage and Rusty. “I have to admit, he’s great with Rusty.”
“You can’t fool me. Now that everyone else sees it, maybe it’s time we pushed things along a little.”
They said goodbye to their guests, helping them into the airport shuttle.
Her father set Trevor down by Kaylie’s feet and opened his arms. “Honey?”
Please hug him.
Kaylie walked into his arms, and as her father embraced her sister, Danica saw the tension in Kaylie’s muscles ease, replaced with comfort. She slowly drew her arms around her father’s waist and settled her head against his chest.
“You smell like you always did,” Kaylie said.
“I’m the same person, princess. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but I’m still your old dad, and I love you.” He moved from Kaylie to Danica and turned her chin toward him, the way he had when she was a stubborn teenager. “You’re something else, Danica.”
There it was, the moment of impact. It was his little compliments, the ones he didn’t bestow on Kaylie, the way he always made her feel one step above anyone else in the room, that made her feel like she was just that—and that because of her position, she had to protect her sister. Like she always had.
“I love you, Dad.”
“I love you, too.”
Max appeared behind him, and Danica thanked her for everything she had done for them.
“Really, it’s okay. I didn’t do that much.” Max’s cheeks flushed.
“Whatever. Come here.” Danica hugged her close and whispered in her ear, “Is there something I should know about you and Treat?”
Max took a step back and looked Danica right in the eye. Without so much as a hesitation, she said, “Not a chance on your life.”
“Wow. I’d think any woman would be crazy not to go after him. He’s handsome, wealthy, and so incredibly generous.”
“Don’t forget arrogant,” Max added.
“You keep saying that, but why? I haven’t seen him do one arrogant thing.”
“Just something he did.”
“What?” Danica knew they were holding up the others, but she’d seen the way Treat eyed Max, and it was anything but arrogant.
Max shook her head. “Remember the night I was with that other guy?”
“Yeah.” You were really with Treat?
“Oh, never mind. I just think he thinks a lot of himself. Listen, this isn’t important. Say goodbye to your friends. We’ll catch up when you get back.”
Max climbed into the shuttle, taking one last long look in the direction of Treat’s office. Danica was sure she caught a whiff of disappointment when Treat failed to appear.
“If you ask me, she’s just fooling herself,” Lacy said, nodding at Max.
“Yeah, I don’t know what to think. Kaylie says she never even hears Max talking about guys, so...” Danica shrugged. “Wanna tell me about this thing with Dane that everyone but me seems to know about?”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Sisters, remember? We share the deets. Hell, even Sally knew something was up with you two.”
Lacy watched Trevor pulling at Kaylie’s leg. “Those two are so cute, aren’t they?”
“Yes, cutest little spawns ever, but don’t think they’ll distract me from you and Dane.”
“So this is what it’s really like to have sisters? They badger you until you finally cave?” Lacy smiled.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Well, there’s really nothing to tell. He’s got a life zooming around the world and I’ve got a life behind my very nice desk at World Geographic. I can’t see myself leaving to chase whale sharks, and you saw him. He’s not a guy who would be happy sitting around in one place.” She blew out a tired breath. “Besides, I don’t even know the guy, really, so all this speculation is just that—speculation.”
“If you say so. I thought I saw something more between you two.”
“No, you’re right. There is something between us. Ten inches of something.” Lacy winked.
Danica gasped. “So it’s true?”
Lacy flashed a devious smile.
“Oh, honey, we’ll have to plan a girls’ week this summer so we can hear all about your...so we can catch up. You, me, and Kaylie.”
“That sounds more perfect than you could ever imagine. A sister weekend. I’ve waited my whole life for that.” Lacy’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, Kaylie, Danica, I almost forgot!” She dug into her purse. “We got these for you that day we went into town.” She handed them each a silver necklace with a silver charm. Each one had one third of an engraved heart.
“S-I?” Danica asked.
“S-T?” Kaylie said, scrunching her face in confusion.
Lacy held up hers. “Yup, and mine says “E-R.” She stood next to Kaylie and they held them up in a line. “Sister,” Lacy said proudly.
“This is what you and Dad bought in that shop? In the glass case?” Kaylie asked.
Lacy beamed. “Mm-hmm. I know they’re kind of corny, and it’s kind of
presumptuous, but I was just so overjoyed that we’d finally met. You don’t have to wear them.” She dropped her eyes.
“Are you kidding?” Kaylie lifted her hair off of her neck and handed it to Lacy. “Put it on me. I’ll never take it off!”
She embraced Lacy, and the three of them promised to stay in touch.
Danica watched her mother juggle Lexi in one arm while holding on to Trevor’s hand with the other, and she immediately remembered the feeling of holding on to her mother’s hand so her mother could hold Kaylie safe within her arms when they were young girls. She’d always protected Kaylie, and as she watched Kaylie say goodbye to her children, she knew she always would. Even if her sister didn’t need her to. It was what big sisters did.
“Give Twevor one!” Lexi said to Kaylie, as Kaylie dug another lollipop out of her purse and handed it to Trevor.
It’s just what big sisters do.
Danica waved as the shuttle pulled away from the curb. The sun showered them with midafternoon laze-inducing warmth. Blake wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled against her neck.
“Sad to see them go?” he asked.
“Maybe a little.” Danica turned to face him.
“A whole week. Seven whole days!” Kaylie was doing a happy little dance around Chaz. “No babies, no diapers, no sleepless nights.”
Chaz picked her up and twirled her in his arms. “I’m making no promises about sleepless nights,” he teased.
Kaylie threw her head back and laughed.
“I rather like my sleepless nights,” Danica whispered to Blake.
Chaz set Kaylie down on the sidewalk and she ran over to Danica. “We leave tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? Think about it. A honeymoon in Las Vegas. Never a dull moment.”
Even the thought of Las Vegas, the noise, the lights, and the need for nonstop energy, made Danica cringe. The look in Blake’s eyes told her that he had no interest in a wild week in Vegas either.
“Nope. I think we’ll go back to our little house, on our quiet little mountain, and enjoy being Mr. and Mrs. Blake Carter for a while.”
Sisters in White Page 22