Secret Love by Brenda Jackson

Author:Brenda Jackson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, African-American
ISBN: 9780373831203
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2000-01-02T10:00:00+00:00

Jake checked his watch. He would give everyone another twenty minutes or so. He had sent his sister-in-law, Marilyn, upstairs to make sure Diamond didn’t need help with anything. So far the party was going smoothly, he thought, as he continued to move around the room, playing out his role as host. It felt good having the people he loved and most cared about in his home.

He saw three of his nieces standing off to the side, carrying on what appeared to be an interesting conversation if the expressions they wore were any indication. Traci was doing all the talking, and her sister Kattie and cousin Felicia were getting an earful as they hung on to her every word.

He smothered a laugh when he noticed his mother, who was sitting on a sofa not far away from the three, trying not to draw attention to the fact that she was deliberately listening to every word of Traci, Kattie and Felicia’s private conversation. There was definitely nothing wrong with his mother’s hearing today.

Jake decided to check things out before his mother became privy to too much of whatever gossip his nieces were spreading.

“Anyway,” Traci was saying as he walked up. She didn’t notice him and kept right on talking. “Leigh Jones told Karen Childs and Karen told Donna and of course, she told Bobbie, who—”

Traci stopped talking when she finally noticed him. “Oh, hi, Uncle Jake. Nice party.”

He lifted a brow. “Thanks. And don’t let me stop you. This is all very interesting, this train of gossip that you’re spreading. I missed the beginning. Exactly what did Leigh tell Karen that was so important that she told Donna, who then gave the scoop to Bobbie?”

“Nothing important, really.”

“Oh.” You could have fooled me from where I was standing looking on a few minutes ago, Jake thought to himself. He looked at the three nieces he loved and adored. But he knew they could not keep secrets no matter how many times they took the “I cross my heart and hope to die” vow.

“So tell us, Uncle Jake, why such a big splash in February?” his niece Kattie asked, smoothly and deliberately changing the subject. “We weren’t expecting a party until the summer.”

“Yeah, not until the Fourth of July,” his niece Felicia added.

He nodded and decided to play his hand at something, which would later prove a point to his family about their inability to keep secrets. “I’ll let you three in on something, but you can’t say a word to anyone. It’s a secret.”

He smiled when the three of them leaned forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mother sitting on the sofa leaning likewise. She wasn’t about to get left out of hearing anything either. “In a few minutes, I’ll be making a very important announcement.”

“What kind of an announcement?” Traci asked, whispering. “Are you going to announce that Whispering Pines made an extra-large profit last year?”

Jake grinned. Traci, a compulsive shopper, was anxious to know just how much extra money she would have to spend at the malls.

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