‘A very valued friend, I’m sure, Dot.’
This time Rafe’s smoothness backfired on him. ‘No need to butter me up, young man. I’ve already decided you’ll do. Jennifer’s always had a good head on her shoulders. If she chose you then that’s good enough reason for me to like you.’
‘Thank you,’ Rafe chuckled, proving that unlike his father he had no problems admitting his own faults. ‘I suppose a backhanded compliment is better than an insincere one.’
‘Here you are!’ Jennifer’s mother finally produced the result of her rummaging in her untidy bag.
Jennifer had one more lame attempt at deflecting the inevitable. ‘He probably already has that print anyway—’
‘We ex-models are terribly vain; we can never resist drooling over shots of ourselves,’ Rafe interrupted her coolly, half rising to take the slim leather pocketbook from Paula’s deceptively fragile fingers. He settled back beside his rigid companion and inspected the small coloured photograph displayed under the plastic window.
‘Oh, yes, I remember that moment very vividly,’ he murmured, causing Jennifer to shift uneasily on the cushions and rub her neck, which strangely seemed to still feel his phantom fingers. She didn’t have to look to know what Rafe was seeing: a study in deception.
In deference to Sebastian’s insistence that their wedding appear as normal as possible, to subvert any potential future threat to the legality of Jennifer’s position, she had worn an expensive white silk suit, paid for by Sebastian, and had carried an exquisite bouquet of white roses and baby’s breath, and afterwards they had posed for the register office photographer. She had been wearing her contact lenses, and a visit from a hairstylist and make-up expert had prettied her unconventional features, but it was the secret which she happily carried inside her which had made her truly bloom like a genuine bride.
To Jennifer’s extreme discomfort, and Sebastian’s startled satisfaction, Rafe had turned up to hear them exchange their brief vows—the only one of the extended family to attend. Although he had refused to act as a formal witness, his father had insisted on him joining them for a photograph. He had broken off one of Jennifer’s white roses and thrust it through the buttonhole on the lapel of his son’s grey suit, lining them up with Jennifer in the middle.
In hindsight she could appreciate the irony of the pose, but at the time only Sebastian had known that the man on the other side of his wife was in fact the true father of her child. As far as Jennifer had been aware, her baby’s father was irrelevant, a number on the label of an anonymous test tube of frozen sperm, chosen from hundreds of others. The anonymity was a necessary part of general fertility programmes, she had understood, to prevent genetic parents launching bids to reclaim the offspring created from the sperm or eggs they had previously donated...or birth parents trying to sue donors for maintenance!
While in the originally
posed photograph she and Rafe had been wearing identical fake smiles, a few seconds later the accidental triggering of the photographer’s remote control had caught an informal shot of Sebastian nudging Jennifer into accepting Rafe’s polite kiss on her cheek. Frozen on film in embarrassed mid-stumble, she had been pressing her bouquet-filled hand against Rafe’s dark jacket to steady herself, and in profile it seemed as if she was looking up at him, pink-cheeked and adoring, while the three-quarter angle of his head showed clearly his smiling intent to kiss her as his arm encircled her silk-clad waist.
What didn’t show up in the photograph was the angry pride in Jennifer’s eyes and the sardonic contempt behind Rafe’s teasing smile...and the gaunt, elderly groom, neatly excised from the negative she had taken to the camera shop to be reprinted.
‘Jenny has a larger, framed version up in her bedroom,’ said Paula fondly, wheeling over to retrieve her wallet. ‘Since all our living areas are used by our guests, we like to keep our private things to ourselves.’ She looked down at the photo and smiled. ‘I thought this looked so lively, full of warmth and fun. It was such a relief to know that Jennifer had found someone wonderful—and for it to be Sebastian’s son of all people! Your father was such a pleasant guest, so helpful and undemanding.’
Jennifer bit back a nervous giggle when she saw Rafe’s eyes widen at this description of his exacting, imperious father.
‘Mum always sees the best in everyone,’ she said, obliquely warning him against trying to shatter her mother’s rosy illusions.
‘A rare and admirable quality,’ Rafe murmured, looking thoughtfully from Jennifer to her mother, obviously racking up more evidence for the prosecution. ‘Of course, people often act quite differently from their usual selves when they escape the pressures of their normal environment. Some of them see it as an excuse to go wild and do dangerous things that they’d never dream of doing at home...and later live to bitterly regret it.’
Jennifer knew the message was explicitly aimed at her, but as usual Paula took the words at face value.
‘Oh, your father came here for the peace and quiet we could provide, not to go adventuring. But he was so very exhausted by the time he got to our section of his holiday that I was rather worried for him. Thank goodness Jenny was on hand, with her home-nursing experience, because Sebastian refused to see a doctor or alter his plans for the rest of his trip. I encouraged her, you know, to accept his offer to accompany him back to England after he said he didn’t like the idea of employing a total stranger. I thought the travel would be a good chance for Jenny to broaden her mind a little—she’d never been overseas before...’
From the cynical heft of an eyebrow Jenny could see Rafe thinking that she had been plenty broad-minded by the time she had married his father.
‘I was so sorry when she arrived back and told me that he had died,’ Paula continued. ‘You have my very deepest sympathy, Rafe. But at least he had the chance to see you happy first,’ she added, always ready to stress the positive. ‘Jenny never said, but I supposed his being in such a precarious state of health was the reason why everything happened in such a rush between the two of you...’ She paused delicately.
‘Thank you,’ said Rafe in simple acceptance of her sympathy, warmed, as people usually were, by Paula’s natural empathy. ‘But the rushing part was just as much Jenny’s idea. Your daughter is one determined lady once she’s made up her mind about something.’
Jennifer almost choked on her tea. A lady was the last thing that he considered her to be! Coughing, she let Rafe whisk her cup and saucer out of her hands and pat her on the back with what she felt was unnecessary firmness.
‘I know. She was very stubborn as a girl,’ said Paula. ‘And very quiet. She never seemed to need a lot of friends. Always daydreaming and scribbling and inventing her own private games with her own rules that nobody else could follow.’
‘She hasn’t changed much then,’ said Rafe, and the tiny blade of sharpness concealed in his words made a small nick in his carefully presented image of a totally besotted husband.
‘I expect you still have a lot to learn about each other,’ Paula said mildly. ‘It was a pity you had to dash off up the Amazon, Rafe, so soon after the wedding, and your father’s death, but Jenny said that invitations to join an expedition like that are few and far between, and you had to grab the opportunity while it was offered. She said it had been a secret dream of yours for years to help the indigenous peoples of the rainforest, and she didn’t want you to sacrifice it for her sake...’
Now it was Rafe’s turn to choke, on nothing more than his own astounded tongue. ‘The Amazon?’
‘She said you’d be away at least four months, possibly six. I hope nothing went wrong that you’re back early? Jenny said it could be dangerous working so far out of contact with civilisation.’ Paula’s head tilted in motherly concern.
‘Fascinating place, the Amazon,’ commented Dot, washing down the last of her scone with the dregs of her tea. ‘Been there myself a few times. Marvellous specimens. Going to go back some day, I hope. Like to talk about it with you some time.’
‘Uh, well, I...’ It was the first time Jennifer had ever seen Raphael Jordan speechless, but unfortunately she couldn’t afford to enjoy the sight of him floundering in his own witlessness.