by Brenda Novak
“My friend Glenda does. But I don’t. Duh.” She rolled her eyes and laughed again. “Don’t you know anything?”
He pinched his lip. “I admit that I’m a little puzzled.”
“About what?”
The whole situation. His brother-in-law seemed to have built two complete families. Two families that existed in different parts of the country. And, from what Isaac could tell, they were completely unaware of each other. How had Keith managed to get away with it for so long?
A bang drew Isaac’s attention to the house. Isabella’s older sister had thrown the door open. “Isabella, it’s your turn to put the silverware on the table!”
The little girl sighed dramatically. “I’m coming,” she said, and started back up the driveway.
Isaac watched her go. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about the mess Keith had created. He didn’t want anyone to be hurt. Not the attractive woman he’d just met. Not her sweet little girls. And certainly not his sister and her children.
In two hours, he’d be having dinner with Keith’s other wife, the mother of his other family. At some point, Isaac would have to tell her—and Elizabeth, too.
God, what was he going to say?
CHAPTER SIX
ISAAC ARRIVED at the diner early. He’d already explored the area and found that there weren’t a lot of things to see in Dundee. After about three blocks of businesses, the town fell to quasi-rural residences like Reenie’s, where the people enjoyed small acreages and often owned horses or other animals. Once he started climbing into the mountains, he saw mostly large ranches.
“Would you like anything else to drink?” A waitress, wearing a badge that identified her as Judy, set a glass of water in front of him. About forty-five years old, she had a smoker’s voice and bleached hair with dark roots.
“Maybe in a minute or two,” he said. “I’m waiting for someone to join me.”
“Who?”
He’d never had a waitress ask him for the name of the party he was waiting for, at least not as if she had a personal interest. He glanced up to see Judy putting her order pad in one of the pockets of her apron. “Excuse me?”
“Who are you waiting for?”
“Reenie O’Connell.” Reenie’s last name tasted bitter on his tongue. He didn’t want to believe she could be married to Keith. Surely there was some other explanation. He wasn’t sure about the ramifications of bigamy, but he knew it was illegal. He needed to do some research, maybe call his friend in Chicago who worked for the Attorney General’s office. Part of him wanted to see Keith behind bars. The other part realized that putting his brother-in-law away wouldn’t help either family. Which might be the reason, besides the few sensational polygamy cases coming out of Utah, he’d never heard of anyone going to jail for marrying two people at one time.
“How do you know Reenie?” she asked, seemingly unaware that he might consider it rude for her to be so inquisitive.
“I used to work with Keith.” He repeated the lie he’d told Reenie while trying to remember what he’d read in the paper about Tom Green. The State of Utah had put Tom Green in jail for bigamy. But, if Isaac remembered right, there’d been other charges as well. Keith hadn’t married anyone underage. And what he’d done had nothing to do with collecting welfare. He maintained two relatively “normal” but separate lives, and he seemed to be a good father to his children. Did the state send bigamists like Keith to jail?
“Hel-lo?” The waitress snapped her fingers in front of him, and Isaac belatedly realized that she’d asked him another question.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “What’d you say?”
“Did you meet Keith at that computer company?”
“Yes.”
She shook her head. “Good thing you got out when you did. Keith’s sure gone a lot. If you ask me, he needs to stay home and take care of his family.”
Which one? “How well do you know Keith?”
“Well enough. Everybody knows everybody else around here.”
“How long has he been living in Dundee?”
“Let’s see.” She rolled her eyes, which were caked with blue eye shadow, toward the ceiling. “Seems like…gee, his folks must’ve moved here at least twenty years ago.”
Twenty years was a long time. Her answer certainly didn’t make Isaac feel any better about who might have come first in Keith’s life. “Are his folks still in town?”
“Sure are. They don’t live more than a couple miles from Reenie.”
Interesting. Apparently, Keith’s parents were alive and well, and hadn’t been killed in an automobile accident, as Isaac had been told. Keith also purported to be an only child. Elizabeth was always saying how terrible she felt that he had no family.
Me and the kids…we’re all he’s got, Isaac.
Isaac smoothed his eyebrows with a thumb and finger. “Does he have any siblings?”
He wasn’t surprised when she immediately responded in the affirmative. “Two brothers.”
“Do they still live in town?”
“No. One’s away at college. Baylor. The other married and moved to Boise several years ago.”
“I see.” He hauled in a deep breath. “When did Keith marry Reenie?”
Her trust gave way to skepticism. “I thought you were waiting for Reenie. I thought you were friends.”
“Actually, I know Keith.” But certainly not as well as he had once believed. “I just met Reenie this morning when I stopped by to look at the Jeep she’s selling.”
“What brought you to town in the first place?”
“I’m writing a novel about small-town relationships. Reenie’s agreed to help me with some of the research.”
Judy pursed her lips and nodded as though grudgingly impressed. “Reenie’ll be a big help. I’m sure she’ll tell you all about how she and Keith met in high school. Got hitched almost as soon as they graduated.”
So what he’d suspected was true. Liz was the other woman. She’d met Keith on an airplane only eight or nine years ago.
“Reenie’s father is Senator Holbrook, you know,” the waitress said.
Isaac didn’t know. But neither did he care much about Reenie’s political connections. He was too busy trying to place events in their proper order. First Keith had married Reenie. Then he’d been hired by Softscape. The company had moved headquarters, and he’d started traveling extensively. Which is how he’d crossed paths with Elizabeth. They began to date, she got pregnant with Mica, they married right away. The only thing that made Keith’s extramarital affair so different from those of a lot of men was that he’d married the other woman without divorcing his first wife….
The waitress was still talking, but it took real effort for Isaac to concentrate on anything except his own grim thoughts.
“The senator had big plans for Reenie, hated to see her marry so young,” she was saying.
Had Judy just given him a brief history of Reenie’s early years? Yes…
“But there was no standing in the way of it,” she continued, smiling wistfully. “I’ve never seen two people more in love. And I gotta hand it to them. They started having babies after the first year, but they worked their way through college. They both graduated with some sort of degree. Even Senator Holbrook’s got to be happy with how their relationship has turned out.”
Isaac didn’t think anyone would be happy for long, but there was no time to catalogue the ramifications of what he’d learned from Judy. The bell rang over the door and Reenie walked in, wearing a pair of jeans cut fashionably low on her hips, boots that seemed more city than country, and a thin coral sweater that hugged the slim body beneath her brown leather coat.
As much as Isaac would rather have found her unattractive, he could see why Keith would be drawn to her. She had creamy, flawless skin, beautiful blue eyes, a mouth that was just a little too wide to be perfect, and an energetic, confident air that made him want to look at her much longer. If she was wearing any makeup, he couldn’t tell. W
ith the healthy glow of her skin, and the contrast between her light eyes and rich dark hair, she didn’t need any.
“Getting started without me?” she said, sliding into the booth.
He forced his eyes to stay on her face as she stripped off her coat. He didn’t need to assess her figure. He’d already done that when he’d followed her to the Jeep. “Excuse me?”
The coral sweater had a wide neck that fell off her shoulders slightly—very feminine and appealing. “Are you interviewing Judy?”
He handed her a menu from the clip at the back edge of the table. “I was asking her a few questions.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you know a famous author?” Judy asked.
“Famous?” Reenie had knocked her purse over and was busy collecting all the stuff that had spilled out, but she raised an eyebrow at him when she heard this. “He left that part out when I met him this morning.”
“I try not brag,” he said with a grin.
She returned his smile as she finished with her purse, then glanced around the diner. “Busy tonight?” she asked Judy.
“Not too bad. I’ve been telling your new friend here how you and Keith got together.” Judy’s wistful smile returned, taking the harder edges off her appearance. “Love at first sight.”
Reenie shoved her bag and coat farther into the corner of the booth. “And what did he have to say about that?”
“Nothing yet.”
“What were you expecting?” Isaac asked.
She tilted her head in a challenging angle. “Most people think that kind of love is a fairy tale.”
“It’s not?”
Her shoulders lifted in a tiny shrug. “I’m proof that it does happen.”
Isaac knew he should say I’m happy for you, or some other such thing, but the words wouldn’t come. He couldn’t make a comment like that knowing what she was going to face in the very near future. “Maybe so,” he said.
She put the menu away without looking at it. Isaac figured she could probably recite the diner’s offerings from memory. “You sound like a skeptic, Mr. Russell.”
“Call me Isaac.”
“Isaac. You don’t believe in love at first sight?”
He stared into his water glass. “Let’s just say it’s a phenomenon I’ve never experienced myself.”
“So…you’re jaded.” She tapped a short fingernail, devoid of polish, against her chin. “Divorced?”
“Never married.”
Judy looked appalled at this news. “Handsome guy like you? You’re not gay, are you?”
Isaac couldn’t help laughing. “Not even a little bit.”
“Well—” the waitress made a point of checking him out “—in that case, if you need anyone else to help with your research, let me know. I’m good at small-town relationships.” She winked. “And I’m not married.”
“Aren’t you seeing Billy Jo these days?” Reenie said pointedly.
“What if I am?” She fluffed her hair. “Maybe he’d actually pop the question if he thought he had a little competition.”
“I hate to break it to you, but Isaac won’t be around long enough to help you reel in Billy Jo,” Reenie told her.
“How long will you be here?” Judy asked him.
“Only a few days.”
“Figures.” She stopped flirting and retrieved her order pad. “What can I get you for dinner?”
He glanced expectantly at Reenie, but she said, “You go first.”
“I’ll have the chicken-fried steak and mashed potatoes.”
Reenie cleared her throat.
“What?” Isaac said when he found her watching him.
“The sirloin is much better.”
“Is that what you’re having?”
“No, I like the garlic-roasted chicken with sage stuffing.”
“But you think I’d like the sirloin?”
“If you’re going to order red meat, the sirloin’s the best cut they’ve got.”
“Okay.” He motioned to Judy. “I’ll take the sirloin.”
“How do you want that cooked?” she asked.
“Well done.”
Disapproval etched several lines on Reenie’s forehead, and Isaac hid an amused smile. “What now?” he asked.
“You won’t be able to eat it if you order it that way. Mac will turn it to charcoal. Medium would be best, but if you’re squeamish, go with medium-well.”
Considering some of the things he’d eaten in the past, Isaac doubted anyone could call him squeamish. While in the Congo, he’d sampled a variety of unusual and, sometimes, unpleasant foods. “I just want it done.”
“If it’s a little pink in the center, it’ll be more tender.” She adjusted her sweater to fall evenly off both shoulders. “Believe me, I know about steak. This is cattle country.”
Isaac gave up. “I’ll go with your advice. But if it’s bloody, you’ll have to share your chicken.”
She turned her hands up. “I’ll take that risk.”
This woman had spirit, strength, confidence. He could tell already. “Anything else I should know about dining here?” he asked, teasing her.
“Order the pie.”
“What kind of pie?”
“Any kind of pie.”
“Okay…I’ll have pumpkin.”
“I’ll have the carrot cake,” she said to Judy.
“Wait a second,” Isaac said with a laugh. “You just told me to order the pie.”
“I know. Their carrot cake isn’t the best. But I’m in the mood for cream-cheese frosting.”
Isaac found his smile lingering. Much as he didn’t want to like Rena O’Connell, he couldn’t help himself. She was refreshingly quirky and outspoken.
Choosing between Elizabeth and Reenie wouldn’t be easy, he decided. No wonder his brother-in-law was working so hard to keep both women. Flying back and forth between Idaho and California. Splitting his earnings between two households. Making up lies to cover lies to cover lies…
How the hell had he managed it for so long? A double life had to wear a person down after a while. Had Keith planned on leaving Reenie and never gotten around to actually walking out? Had he cheated on her, then let the situation spiral out of control? Or did he consider what he was doing some kind of challenge? Was he laughing at the gullibility of one wife while he was in the arms of the other?
“Can I get you anything else?” Judy asked.
“No, thanks,” Isaac replied. He turned back to Reenie as Judy moved away.
“Are you always so direct?” he asked Reenie.
“Pretty much. Why? Does it intimidate you?”
“Not at all.”
“That’s more than I can say for most men.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Men seem to prefer demure women who let them take the lead, or at least create the illusion of letting them lead.”
“You’re saying you wear the pants in the family?”
“Not at all. Keith and I are equal partners in our marriage. I’m just saying that I don’t hesitate to speak my mind.”
“And he’s okay with that?”
“He loves that about me.” She flashed him another grin.
He chuckled, thinking about the little girl he’d met at the house. Isabella had definitely inherited her mother’s spunk. Reenie might be small, but she was a force to be reckoned with. She could probably handle what was coming better than Liz could. But would the crisis rob her of that vital quality he found so unique and appealing? He hated the thought of that.
“What do you want to know about small towns?” she asked.
“First tell me a little about yourself.”
“Me?”
“A writer needs to understand the perspective of his source. It shades the meaning of what that source might say.”
She briefly considered this. “Okay. I’ll be thirty in two months.”
Isaac cringed a little at this news. They wouldn’t get through her birthday before the truth came ou
t.
“I was born in Dundee.” She rearranged the salt-and-pepper shakers and condiments as she talked, even used her napkin to wipe the grime off the salt container. “My parents still live here, along with my only sibling, an older brother.” Focusing on someone over his left shoulder, she set her napkin on the edge of the table for Judy to take and waved.
Isaac turned to see that she’d spotted a young cowboy who’d come in earlier. “Friend of yours?”
“A former student.”
“You’re a teacher?”
“I was until I had Isabella. It was tough enough to work full-time with two kids. Three made it nearly impossible. I prefer to be with them, so I quit.”
“Fortunately, your husband seems to make enough to provide for everyone.” And he did mean everyone. How did Keith support two families without either wife missing the funds he siphoned off? Softscape must pay very well.
“We…squeak by,” she said.
Considering the diamond bracelet Keith had given Liz for their anniversary, the four-thousand-square-foot house they lived in, and the expense of belonging to that ritzy tennis club, Keith was obviously not splitting his checks evenly. Why was he spending so much more on one family than the other? Did he prefer Liz to Reenie? Or was he living some sort of yuppie fantasy life with Liz that required fancier trappings? It was even possible that he loved Reenie more than Liz and tried to make up for it with his generosity.
“I’m interested in how couples deal with their finances in small communities,” he said, steering the conversation in a direction that might reveal how Keith operated.
She surprised him by wrinkling her nose.
“Is something wrong?”
“I hate to be critical, but I hope that isn’t what your book is about.”
Once again her frank response tempted him to smile. “Not interesting enough?”
“’Fraid not.”
“It’s fascinating to me.” Morbidly so, he thought, and his smile quickly faded.
She accepted the glass of water Judy brought. “You must have been an accountant in a former life.”
“A scientist,” he said.
“That explains it.”