The Secret She Kept

by Amy Knupp

  Zach shot in the eight ball to win the game. He straightened and returned to where Jake stood, a grin on his face. “Sounds like a hell of an idea. Savannah could use someone like you in her life.”

  “Tell her that.”

  “I don’t tell that woman anything.”

  “You do know her well.”

  “You figure she’ll say yes?”

  Jake replaced his cue on the wall and pulled out his wallet to give Zach his money. “Not without a lot of convincing. I can be very persuasive, though.”

  “I wish you all the luck in the world.”

  They headed back toward Jake’s grandma, who was still engrossed in her game.

  “Thanks. I’ll need it.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “WOWZA!” Lindsey stopped in the doorway of her bedroom on Saturday evening, decked out in her pregnant nun costume. “You are one hot mama, Savannah.”

  “Hell makes a girl hot.” Savannah turned her attention from the mirror and her chest that was so…out there, thanks to the low-cut devil costume with the built-in push-up bra, and frowned at her sister. “It’s a good thing you’re with child.”

  “Why’s that?” Lindsey fluttered into the room with exaggerated innocence.

  “Because I would hurt you if you weren’t. What were you thinking when you got me this costume?”

  Lindsey put her hands on her protruding belly. “If I had the choice between looking like you in that costume or looking like me in mine tonight, I’d be all over the slinky red pants and camisole. I feel like an elephant.”

  Savannah stood back and evaluated Lindsey. She picked up the nun’s veil, which Lindsey had left on the bed while she handled last-minute preparations for her and Zach’s Halloween party, and arranged it on her sister’s head. And laughed.

  “It’s perfect! You’ll be the comic queen of the party. I still think Zach should’ve gone as God.”

  “He didn’t want to give Gram a heart attack.”

  “What kind of a day is she having?”

  “Fairly lucid compared with the past week. She won’t wear a costume, though. Annie got her Little Red Riding Hood, but she refused. Adamantly.”

  Savannah smiled, imagining the scene between Zach’s grandma and her caretaker. Grandma Rundle was a lot mellower than she used to be, but the woman could still be stubborn and feisty.

  Glancing back at the mirror, Savannah instantly forgot her amusement. “Lindsey, seriously, I can’t go downstairs with this much of me showing.”

  “Don’t be such a prude. You look fantastic. The dark red with your hair and coloring, your long legs and that cleavage…” Lindsey whistled. “You’re a single woman and it’s okay to act like one.”

  “I’m a thirty-one-year-old mom, not a hooker.”

  “Tonight, you’re a devil.” Lindsey gave her a smug, devil-may-care grin and spun to check her own appearance in the mirror. She frowned. “And I’m a dowdy woman of God.”

  “Maybe I could tempt you to come over to the dark side.” Savannah stared pointedly at her sister’s tummy. “Oops. You already have.” She cracked up as she grabbed her cape, horns and pitchfork and hurried from the room, out of the pregnant woman’s reach.

  Lindsey caught up to her on the stairs.

  “Are the kids okay?” Savannah asked.

  “They’re in the basement, playing haunted house. They have the lights off and are taking turns scaring one another. The babysitter will be here any minute.”

  “Going to have to tip her well tonight.”

  Once in Lindsey’s kitchen, Savannah drew her thin, sparkly cape around her shoulders and attached it with the single snap. She wished it covered more than her back.

  Grandma Rundle sat at the kitchen table, tapping a finger. She regarded Savannah for the longest time, assimilating the whole getup. Savannah braced herself for a too-honest remark. Now that the Alzheimer’s had moved in on the woman’s brain, she held her tongue even less than she used to.

  “Pretty,” she said instead.

  Savannah gazed at her in surprise. “Don’t you mean trampy?”

  She shook her head. “You’ve got the figure for it, missy. Enjoy it while you can. One day you’ll be begging for one of these jobs.” She motioned to the sack-like pink-and-violet muumuu she wore, and grimaced.

  “You never know. You might catch yourself a bachelor tonight with that ‘job.’”

  “I certainly hope not. Where’s your man, young lady?”

  “He’s missing out.”

  Some days Grandma remembered Savannah was divorced now, but those were fewer and further between. She glanced at Annie, who nodded slightly, reassuring her it was okay not to go into the whole explanation again.

  “What remains to be done?” Savannah asked Lindsey.

  Her sister launched into a detailed list, ticking each item off on her fingers. She stopped midsentence and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Savannah inquired.

  “The horns.” Lindsey pointed at her headband. “They’re absolutely perfect. The whole costume is.”

  Savannah pivoted to the counter and reached for the closest bottle of red wine, which Zach had opened earlier. “I’ll just have a nice refreshing glass of wine. Would you like some—Oh, wait. You can’t have any.” Savannah shot Lindsey a grin worthy of the devil costume.

  “Witch.”

  “Not tonight.” She cackled evilly and began arranging the relish tray.

  “Whoa.” Zach, decked out in a hooded brown monk costume, gasped when he entered the kitchen. “You look like a woman on the prowl.”

  Savannah sighed. “I’m a woman at the mercy of your wife. I may still go change into a ghost with blue jeans.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Zach said. “Gram, Annie, can I get you ladies a drink?”

  They both declined, but Grandma Rundle requested some of the sweets she’d seen Lindsey carry to the dining room earlier.

  Savannah studied Zach, still puzzled by his comment. “Since when do you care what I wear?”

  He shrugged guiltily and Savannah glanced at Lindsey.

  “What did you guys do?” Then she knew. Or at least suspected strongly. “You invited your new partner, of course.”

  “Of course. I couldn’t not invite him.”

  “And Lindsey told you everything….” She kept her voice down to avoid having the other women overhear.

  “Not Lindsey,” Zach answered. “I pried it out of the man himself. But as far as you and Jake needing to jump in the—” he broke off, eyeing his grandma “—needing to get together, I don’t have to be up on any history to deduce that the jumping is overdue.”

  “You know he makes me crazy, right?”

  “A little crazy never hurt anybody.” Zach grinned.

  Savannah felt her face start to flush, and not from embarrassment. “You guys don’t understand. I can’t go there.” People acted as if she shouldn’t think twice about finding another husband. How could she ever do that when her first marriage had done so much damage? She was not cut out for life sharing.

  She took a large gulp of wine, made a face, then carried the relish tray to the table in the dining room, where the food was being laid out.

  So Jake would be here. Great. She decided then and there to have a fun evening in spite of his presence.

  Kelly, the babysitter, arrived, and Savannah escorted her down to the kids. The four of them were already wound up, as though they’d had nothing but sugar for a week. She kissed her children and told them all to behave themselves.

  When she went back upstairs, guests were already arriving. Her instinct was to hang out in the kitchen with Gram and Annie.

  Criminy. She’d never been afraid of people or mingling. Had never been a wallflower. She tried telling herself her reticence was due to the costume’s neckline, which really had nothing to do with her neck at all it was so low.

  “Better go find your man,” Gram said, as if Savannah’s thoughts were written all over her face.r />
  Of course Gram had no idea what she was wishing on her.

  The back door opened then and Katie and Noah walked in. Their home was next door and they’d only had to cross the backyards.

  Savannah went over and hugged her sister. “Thank goodness you’re here.”

  Katie tilted her head in confusion. “How much have you had to drink? You’re never affectionate.”

  Savannah ignored her and stood back to admire their costumes. Noah wore a white jacket and carried a black bag. Katie had on a ski jacket, a stocking cap pulled down over her long hair, and fuzzy mittens. “Slip out of your coat so I can see what you are.”

  “My coat’s part of the costume. I’m a mountain climber.” A goofy grin stole over Katie’s face as she grasped her fiancé’s hand. “Noah’s a medic, so he can save my butt when I fall off the side of a mountain.”

  “It doesn’t count when you dress as your profession,” Savannah said to him.

  Noah stepped forward and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m a doctor. It’s different. Besides, she needs to be saved.”

  “You already did that, honey.” Katie wrapped her arms around his neck, a big grin on her face.

  “You two make me nauseous,” Savannah said, laughing.

  “Who’s here?” Katie asked, leaning down to hug Zach’s grandma. “Where are my sweet niece and nephews?”

  “In the basement. Though I’m not so sure about the sweet part.”

  Katie hollered down to the four and received overenthusiastic hellos back.

  Lindsey arrived to get a round of drinks, and shooed them out of the kitchen.

  “Sorry, Linds, not going to allow the preggo lady to do all the work. You promised you’d let us help,” Savannah said.

  “Fine.” She fished out two beers and handed them to Savannah. “These go to the cowboy and the Hell’s Angel in the living room.”

  “Cowboy and Hell’s Angel,” Savannah repeated.

  As soon as Savannah reached the doorway, it became apparent Lindsey was inherently evil, in spite of her nun’s costume. Jake was the Hell’s Angel and Doug, one of the crew at work, was the cowboy.

  Jake’s lustful grin as she approached him incited chills. Absolutely annoying chills.

  “If this is what the devil looks like, then line me up for hell,” he said when she handed him one of the beers.

  “As if you have any choice at this point,” Savannah replied.

  “Oh, she got you there, man,” Doug said.

  “Your costume is fitting,” Savannah told Jake, checking him out from head to toe. Fitting very nicely, she might’ve added if it wouldn’t have pained her to admit it.

  Heat rushed through her at the sight of the black leather hugging those thighs. She’d never had a leather fetish, but he could give her reason to start. He wore what appeared to be a genuine Hell’s Angels black jacket, with the words and a graphic on the back.

  “Where’d you get that?” Savannah queried. “Tell me you’re not…”

  “I’m not. It’s a long-lost uncle’s. Emily found it when we were going through our dad’s closets the other day.”

  Savannah nodded. “I better go help my sister with drinks.”

  Jake raised his beer can in salute.

  When she pivoted around, Katie was in her face with a cat-ate-the-canary grin. “He looks mighty fine tonight, doesn’t he?” she whispered.

  Savannah snarled at her and walked by, taking a couple of drink orders on her way to the kitchen.

  JAKE WASN’T MUCH OF A party guy anymore, but the Rundles’ Halloween bash was decent. That had nothing to do with the amusing costumes or the tables crowded with food or the free-flowing drinks, and everything to do with being able to watch Savannah in that devil suit.

  When she waltzed through the room in the sparkly low-cut top, snug pants and black heels that made her legs seem a mile longer than usual, his mind ceased functioning altogether. She’d been doing her best to ignore him ever since bringing that first beer out, yet whenever she entered the room, her eyes sought his. They’d dart away at once, as if she’d never tried to find him, but he spotted her looking every time. And every time, his blood pounded harder.

  Jake had been shooting the breeze with some of the guys from Heartland, since he didn’t know many others. But now he’d had enough tiptoeing around what he wanted. He headed to the kitchen, where he’d seen Savannah disappear again.

  The room was deserted, but the rear door was open a crack. He went to it and squinted out into the darkness. Sure enough, she sat on the top step by herself, rubbing her bare arms with her hands. Her breath made clouds of white mist as she exhaled, and Jake imagined the warmth of it on his skin.

  Enough imagining.

  “Hey,” he said, walking out and sitting next to her. “Cold much?”

  “I wanted some fresh air.”

  “This is pretty fresh.” He removed his jacket and draped it around her shoulders, on top of her cape. “I see your horniness has disappeared,” he said, eyeing her hair where the devil headband used to be.

  Savannah pulled the jacket tightly around her. “Don’t worry. I’m still bad on the inside.”

  “And very good on the outside. Just the way I like ’em.”

  Instead of laughing, she sighed. “Jake, why did you come out here?”

  He rested his elbows on his knees and gazed straight ahead at the mother-in-law quarters in the backyard. “You want honesty or some more lines?”

  “What do you think?”

  He took several breaths of cold air before speaking. “You’re making me crazy, woman. I can’t stop watching you, remembering us. I want…”

  “You want what?” Her voice was hard, lacking any encouragement.

  Jake was through waiting for encouragement, anyway.

  “This.”

  He put his hand on the back of her neck and drew her mouth to his, the warmth of her breath making him shudder with desire. She stiffened and didn’t respond…for all of five seconds. When his tongue slid over her lips, she yielded to him and leaned closer. Jake trailed his hands up under the jacket, over the thin material of her top, then reached under it at her waist to touch her silky skin. Savannah made a soft, approving sound deep in her throat.

  The noise of the party faded away and there was nothing except the two of them and the connection of their bodies, their mouths. Savannah worked her way up onto his lap and straddled him, and their hands were all over each other, grasping at clothing, exploring greedily.

  Jake ran his palms under the silky material, up both sides of her rib cage, and rubbed his thumbs over the swells of her breasts. As he worked higher and made contact with her nipples, Savannah arched into him, exposing her neck. He pressed light kisses along her jaw. The little sounds she made nearly drove him mad. He dropped his hands to her backside and pulled her into his—

  “Mom?”

  Savannah shot to attention and stiffened. She instantly moved off him to return to her spot on the step, and tried to act as if she hadn’t been busted in the middle of one extremely hot moment. It was a good thing they’d been interrupted when they had, Jake thought, because he’d been on the verge of losing the last thread of control.

  “What’s up, Allie? Is Kelly okay?”

  “Were you kissing him?”

  Savannah’s head dropped. “Apparently so.”

  Tension filled the silence. Jake closed his eyes, aware that Allie wasn’t okay with what she’d witnessed.

  “Allie? Was there a problem in the basement?” Savannah asked.

  A petulant sigh came from behind him. “The boys keep making us watch boy movies.”

  “I thought you would each get to choose a show.”

  “But mine was a long time ago.”

  “Whose show is on now?” Savannah asked.

  “Billy’s. He’s making us watch Power Rangers. They’re stupid.”

  “Can you go to the other side of the room and work on a new drawing?”

  “It�
��s dark. They’re playing ‘movie theater.’ Creeps.”

  Savannah sighed, and Jake could practically feel her digging deep for more patience. “Tell Kelly I said to let you turn on a light so you can draw.”

  “A.” Allie paused. “Are you going to kiss him again?”

  “No.” Savannah’s tone said she meant it…or wanted to.

  The girl stepped back into the house, letting the door slam.

  SAVANNAH BLEW OUT A LONG breath of air and ran her hands through her hair. Clearly, Allie was upset about Jake. And because Savannah had had no intention of kissing him tonight, let alone getting caught by her daughter, she was completely unprepared to deal with this problem. Why had she succumbed?

  She chuckled. She had succumbed because the attraction between Jake and her had the gravitational force of a small planet. Or something. She wasn’t really up on science, and she definitely wasn’t up on attractions.

  “She’ll be all right,” Jake said.

  He was either full of crap or clueless, but Savannah said, “Yeah.”

  “So I thought of a solution for the whole parent thing with the kids and you and me.”

  “And that would be?”

  “Let’s get married. You guys could move to Montana with me. Allie could have a horse.”

  Savannah closed her eyes and wondered if this day could get any worse, because so far she was still upright and maybe it would feel better if she wasn’t. “You can’t be serious, Jake.”

  “Serious as a heart attack.”

  Her eyes widened and she slowly turned her head toward him. “How much did you drink?”

  “I’m sober. Promise.”

  “You’re off your rocker.”

  “Why is my idea so crazy? We’re her parents. We want the same thing—what’s best for Allie.”

  “I don’t grasp how me marrying you could possibly be beneficial for Allie.”

  “She gets a live-in dad, you get a co-parent, Logan gets a role model.”

  “What do you get, Jake?”

  He stared straight ahead. “Come on, Savannah. It’s the practical thing to do.”

  She suddenly started laughing, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She didn’t even know what was funny, or if anything was. Yet all she could do was sit there and laugh until tears filled her eyes. Then it struck her that these were not tears of joy. They were the real McCoy.