Save the Date by Jenny B. Jones

Author:Jenny B. Jones
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2010-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

Lucy walked down a second-story hall lined with oil paintings of generations of Deveraues. Just beyond a sixth bedroom, she found the image of her father as a young twentysomething. The age he would’ve been when he’d lured her mother into passion and ruin, only to discard her like a worn-out tennis racket.

“You look like him.” Clare stepped out from the doorway behind Lucy, her eyes on the picture.

“Actually I favor my mother.” A woman she didn’t even know anymore.

Clare fingered the brooch at her neck. “Apparently you have Anna’s kind heart. And that’s a blessing.” She wiggled her fingers. “Now come, come.”

Lucy’s bedroom could’ve been taken from the pages of Traditional Home. She was surrounded by chic, sophisticated white everywhere she looked. A four-poster bed sat as one focal point, covered in a white matelasse quilt and an abundance of fluffy pillows that made a girl just want to run and jump into them. Opposite the bed, a white fireplace stood, framed by a collection of antique mirrors over the mantel.

“It’s . . . nice,” Lucy said in the stilted silence.

“I know you don’t want to be here. But I think it’s a blessing.”

“Clare, I don’t know what to make of all this yet. My mother lied to me”—Lucy sighed—“about my father . . . about who I thought I was. And the funny thing is, I’ve never missed her more. I just want the chance to talk to her—to ask her why she would accept money from you. Why she would allow herself to be bought off. She could’ve told me the truth.”

Clare sat down in the matching chair beside her. “Initially, I’m sure your mother was scared to tell anyone. The agreement she signed was silence in exchange for cash.”

“But I was her daughter. I deserved to know. And after a certain point, she had nothing to lose. She would’ve known you wouldn’t have caused a scandal.”

“Yes, I realize that.” Clare ran her finger over the piping on the arm of the chair. “I think your mother wanted something better for you. My son floated from one scandal to another. Anna probably wanted you to think your father was a hero. A good man. There was little reason to want you connected to my family. No doubt she wanted to cut all ties with the Deverauxes.”

“How could you just throw money at her like she was nothing? My mother was a hard-working, godly woman.” Lucy watched the sun set in the evening sky. It was only six thirty, but she was exhausted and spent.

“It was a long time ago. I was different then—we all were. I had a family and a name to protect. I wasn’t married to just any man—I was married to the governor.” Clare stood up and went to an armoire. “You don’t have to forgive me tonight. You don’t even have to like me. But please at least pray about it.”

Lucy had tried. But the words hadn’t come. All she had been

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