She climbed the front steps and let herself in without knocking, just as Annie had ordered her to do the last time she’d been here. You’re family now, missy, in case you forgot.
“Annie?” She walked farther into the empty living room.
To her dismay, Lynn Bonner poked her head through the kitchen door, then came slowly forward as she saw her daughter-in-law.
Jane noted the pallor of Lynn’s complexion beneath her makeup and the dark smudges under her eyes. Plainly dressed in jeans and an old pink pocket T-shirt, she bore little resemblance to the well-groomed, stylish hostess who had presided so graciously at the dinner table five days earlier. She wanted to express her concern, but realized even that small gesture would do more harm than good. She wasn’t going to add to Lynn’s troubles, and that meant playing the bitch. “I didn’t know you were here. I thought you were having lunch with Cal.”
“His morning meeting ran long, and he had to cancel.” Lynn set the dish towel she’d been holding over the back of the wing chair. “Did you stop by for any particular reason?”
“I came to see Annie.”
“She’s napping.”
“Tell her I was here, then.”
“What did you want to see her about?”
Jane began to say she’d been concerned about Annie, but stopped herself just in time. “Cal told me I had to drive up today to check on her.” Did lies count with God when they were uttered with good intentions?
“I see.” Lynn’s blue eyes grew frosty. “Well, I’m glad duty forced you to stop by because I want to talk to you. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea?”
The last thing she needed was a private chat with Cal’s mother. “I really can’t stay.”
“This won’t take long. Have a seat.”
“Maybe another time. I have a dozen really important things to do.”
“Sit!”
If Jane hadn’t been so anxious to get away, she would have been amused. Apparently Cal hadn’t received all his leadership abilities from his father, but then, she supposed any woman who had raised three strong-willed sons knew something about exercising her authority. “All right, but just for a few moments.” She took a place at the end of the couch.
Lynn sat in Annie’s upholstered rocker. “I want to talk with you about Cal.”
“I’m not comfortable talking about him behind his back.”
“I’m his mother, and you’re his wife. If that doesn’t give us a right to talk about him, I don’t know what does. After all, we both care about him?”
Jane heard the faint question mark at the end of that statement and understood that Lynn wanted her to confirm her feelings for Cal. Instead, she kept her face carefully expressionless. Cal was right. Lynn and Jim had endured enough grief without having to mourn the failure of his marriage. Let them celebrate, instead, the end of a disastrous alliance. Maybe it would give them something to share.
Lynn’s posture grew more rigid, and Jane’s heart went out to her. She regretted the pain she was causing her now, but knew that, in the end, it was kinder this way. Her in-laws seemed destined for heartbreak, but at least she could make it as short-lived as possible.
“In some ways Cal is like his father,” Lynn said. “They both have a lot of bluster, but they’re more easily hurt than people imagine.” A shadow crossed Lynn’s face.
Maybe a simple concession on her part would somehow ease her mother-in-law’s mind enough to end this conversation. “Cal is a special person. I knew that the moment I met him.”
She immediately realized her mistake because a spark of maternal hope ignited in her mother-in-law’s eyes, and she could see Lynn nurturing the possibility that the frosty, snobbish bride her eldest son had brought home wasn’t as bad as she appeared to be.
Jane’s hands tightened in her lap. She hated causing this woman pain. There was something frail about Lynn, a sadness that lay just beneath that sophisticated veneer. No matter how bad Jane made herself look, she couldn’t hold out false hopes. In the end that would be more cruel than anything else.
She forced her stiff lips into a thin
smile. “If anyone ever doubts that he’s special, all they have to do is ask him. He does have an ego.”
Lynn’s chin shot up at the same time her fingers gripped the arm of the chair. “You don’t seem to like him very much.”
“Of course I do, but no one’s perfect.” Jane felt as if she were suffocating. She had never been deliberately cruel in her life, and even though she knew she had to do this, it made her ill.
“I can’t understand why you married him.”