Chapter 7 #2
“I better. If I don’t, she’ll just keep calling and get more and more annoyed.” He stiffened his back as if he were steeling himself, and then he connected the call. “Hi, Marta.”
Rose could hear the woman’s voice, even from where she was standing. She couldn’t hear the words, but she could hear the shrill tone of it.
Marta must be upset about something.
After a minute, James said, “Wait—wait!”
Marta obviously didn’t wait. The sound of her voice continued vaguely, increasing in volume although not in clarity.
“Marta, excuse me, but that’s not what happened.” James was looking tense, almost angry.
Rose suddenly realized what must have occurred. Genevieve had made up some sort of story and reported it to Marta.
James made a face as he continued to listen. After a minute he said, “That’s not true at all. I never once cheated on Genevieve. I never even touched her until after the engagement was broken.”
Rose understood then. Genevieve had told a story about James cheating on Genevieve with her, with Rose. She felt a sick clench in her gut at the realization.
It was one thing to know she’d been silly the previous day.
It was another to know that everyone around her knew as well.
James had turned around, showing her only his back. She assumed he wanted to hide whatever expression was on his face. That meant whatever he was feeling right now wasn’t good.
Finally he must have interrupted her. “Okay, just wait right there. You haven’t heard the real story, and you must understand that she has reason to not give you the whole truth.
I’m telling you right now that I never cheated on her, and I’m definitely not resisting my true feelings for Genevieve.
I no longer have any feelings at all for her except extreme frustration.
I don’t want to be with her. I never want to be with her. You’re going to have to accept that.”
Marta must have broken into his speech because he made a throaty sound of annoyance.
“No,” he burst out. “No! I’m not going to listen to this.
I’m very sorry if you’re upset, but who I have a relationship with is not your business at all.
If I want to kiss Rosie, then I will—any time I want.
If I want to go out with her, then I will.
If I want to marry her, then I will. And there’s nothing you can do about it. ”
Rose felt her heart jump up in her throat at his rough words. He turned back around, his face slightly damp with sweat and his hand pushing through his hair.
“That’s all,” he said. “I don’t want to be rude, but I’m not going to listen to this. We can talk later when we’re both cooled off some.”
He disconnected the call and set it on the counter with a groan, glaring at the phone as if the device was to blame.
“This is a damned mess,” he muttered.
Rose wrapped her arms around her stomach in an instinctive defensive posture. “I’m so sorry.”
His eyes shot up to her. “It’s not your fault. Why would you think it’s your fault?”
“I don’t think it’s my fault, but I’m involved. I’m just sorry it’s such a mess.”
He sighed. “Yeah. I’m sorry you’ve gotten wrapped up in it.
I don’t know what to do about Marta and William.
I’m sure it’s just their way of trying to hold on to their daughter—by getting me together with some sort of substitute that they’ve picked out—but there comes a point when I just have to shut them down.
” He tugged on his hair. “Then I feel guilty for speaking to them that way.”
“There’s no reason to feel guilty. It has to be done eventually.
You’ve been really good to them—as far as I’ve seen.
” Feeling the need to comfort him, she stepped over and put a hand on his chest. “It sounded like you did fine. I guess… I guess Genevieve is telling the story that I’m some kind of gold-digging man stealer? ”
“Yeah.” James’s expression changed, and he cupped her face briefly with his warm hand. “As if anyone could believe you’d do something like that.”
She melted at the almost tender look in his eyes. She knew he’d just been at his wits’ end in the conversation earlier, but she couldn’t help but hear again him saying that he would marry her if he wanted.
It would never really be what he wanted, but she couldn’t help but like the sound of it.
She wasn’t going to be silly though. Not again. Not like she’d been with Richard.
That was the low point of her life, and she was never going to go back.
“It’s probably really easy for people to believe it,” she said, trying to sound casual. “There are always stories about men hooking up with their nannies, and people always assume the worst about the nannies.”
James made a face. “Yeah. I guess so. But anyone who knows you would know it’s not true.”
She liked the fact that he seemed to believe it. “I hope so. But a lot of people don’t know me at all and will believe anything they hear about me. Neither one of us is going to come out looking good from the story Genevieve is telling.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to be dragged into this whole thing. You probably hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.” She was feeling particularly close to him and was afraid it might have been evident in her expression.
His eyes softened. “You don’t?”
“No. I really don’t.” She might have gone on to say something really stupid had there not been a well-timed interruption.
“Rosie! Daddy!” Julie exclaimed, bursting into the kitchen. “The fort is ready! Where are our sandwiches?”
James and Rose jerked apart, and the moment between them was gone as if it had never existed.
A couple of hours later, supper was over and the girls were heading up to play with their dolls upstairs. Rose wanted to get back to her grandmother’s house so she could spend the evening with her family, and James walked her out to the driveway so his driver could take her over.
She’d come over this afternoon as a way of being nice to the girls, so it was only fair that his driver take her there and back.
James would have been happy to let his driver take her anywhere she wanted, but she had always been scrupulous about not taking advantage on her day off.
He felt at loose ends and out of sorts after a crazy week, and he just wished things would settle down again, all the various parts of his life return to their proper slots.
They didn’t seem likely to though. Not while Genevieve was causing trouble the way she was.
He must have been a fool for ever liking her, for ever thinking she’d be a good match for him.
He was actually embarrassed by how stupid he’d been, and he hated feeling stupid around Rose.
She’d been quiet that afternoon, except for the few minutes in the kitchen, and he wished he could know more about what she was thinking. He could tell she was awkward about the whole situation—who wouldn’t be?—but he couldn’t read her expression any deeper.
It worried him since he’d always been able to tell what she was feeling.
“Thanks for coming over,” he said, opening the car door for her.
“Of course. I had a good time.” She smiled at him, looking pretty and a little rumpled since her hair had air-dried after being in the pool.
He hoped she was telling the truth. “Good.” He thought about how happy his girls had been, playing with him and Rose in the pool. “It’s good for them.”
“What is?”
He looked down as he realized he probably shouldn’t have spoken his thoughts out loud at the moment. “Having you in their life.”
He glanced up in time to see a fleeting emotion cross Rose’s face, but it was gone too quickly for him to identify. “They must miss their mom.”
James felt a tug of deep feeling in his chest. “Yeah. I mean, they’re too young to remember much about her, but I know they must miss having a mom. They need someone to… to fill that space in their lives.”
“I guess that’s what you were hoping with Genevieve.” Her voice was soft, and it seemed natural for them to be talking about this subject, rather than strange or intrusive.
“Yeah. It was. It sounds absolutely absurd, given how things turned out, but she was different when I first got to know her. She reminded me…” He trailed off, afraid Rose would think poorly of him if she knew what he’d been going to say.
“I never knew Melissa, but she couldn’t have really been like Genevieve.”
“Not in the ways that matter. She was loving and… and generous. But in some superficial ways, Genevieve was like her. I know that’s what Marta and William saw in her, why they thought she was a good choice for me.
It just seemed…” He took a breath, glancing to the side, away from Rose.
“It just seemed… easy. A natural replacement. I was wrong though. She could never fill that hole in any way.”
He felt a response from Rose rather than saw it, and he turned back quickly to see what she had reacted to.
She’d dropped her eyes, her expression hidden behind her eyelids and hair. It was frustrating. He wanted to know what she was thinking, what she thought about him, whether she thought he was really as foolish as he felt.
He wanted her to admire him, not to think he was an idiot.
After a moment Rose looked up again and opened her mouth to say something when a red car pulled into the driveway, blocking his driver from getting out.
James felt his stomach tighten and his heartbeat accelerate when he saw who it was. What the hell was Genevieve doing here?
She got out of her car, clearly in an angry huff.
“What do you want?” he demanded. He wasn’t going to be taken off guard or let himself be at a disadvantage today.
“I wanted to talk to you,” she said, looking icily from him to Rose. “What do you think?”
“What I think is that you better stop spreading lies around. You know very well that I never cheated on you and—”
“Why am I supposed to know that? As soon as I’m out of the way, you start screwing your slut of a nanny. What am I supposed to think about that?”