Marcus, she recalled, had always seen through her subterfuges on Dean’s behalf. As he’d seen through her today and stepped in to avert what might have been a dampener on the family reunion, an embarrassment to everyone.
When she remained silent, he added, “It’s entirely your choice, but if you come along I promise I’ll make it as bearable as I can—and we’ll leave early.”
Jenna took a deep breath. “I’ll come.”
She couldn’t read the look he gave her. His mouth was very firm, his eyes dark and probing. Then he put out a hand to squeeze hers before starting the car.
It was just as bad as she had imagined.
Marcus parked in the asphalt area in front of the sprawling old house with its gabled windows, the walls and decorative trims freshly painted in honor of Dean’s return. Brushing past scented lavender and frilled pinks in pots at the side of the steps, they went in the big front door that was expectantly open and through the wide hallway.
The adults were sitting around in the family room with cups of tea and coffee, while the children darted between the chairs and chased one another in and out of the French windows opening onto the tree-fringed lawn and the fenced pool.
Marcus explained their delayed arrival by saying he’d needed something to eat after being dragged out of bed at some ungodly hour at his younger sister’s insistence and then stuck at the airport for nearly an hour.
“You could have eaten here,” his mother chided.
“I was too hungry to wait.” He smiled at her. “And going without breakfast didn’t do Jenna any good, either.”
Mrs. Crossan gave her a sympathetic look. “You are a wee bit pale.” She dropped her voice and murmured anxiously, “You’re not upset about Dean’s engagement, are you, dear?”
“I think it’s wonderful,” Jenna lied valiantly. “Callie’s beautiful, isn’t she? And Dean looks so happy.”
“Well, yes.” Mrs. Crossan’s eyes turned to the couple, and Jenna saw the smile she couldn’t help. “They are very happy.”
Dean and Callie had freshened up, and Callie looked even more gorgeous than she had at the airport. Dean hardly took his eyes off her for long enough to wave to his brother and throw a careless “Hi, again!” at Jenna.
She should be glad he didn’t look at her too closely, but instead she felt a jealousy so strong and painful she had to bunch a fist at her midriff to stop it hurting so much.
Marcus’s fingers closed over hers and pried them apart. “Is there coffee on?” he asked no one in particular. “Let’s get some, Jenna.” He hauled her with him into the big, sun-filled kitchen.
“We just had coffee,” she said as he dropped her hand and went to the machine in a corner of the counter.
“Have some more. Or can I get you something stronger?”
Jenna shook her head. She needed her wits about her. “No.”
He pulled two mugs from hooks under the cupboards and filled them, stirring some sugar into hers. “Here.”
Katie came in, a pile of cups and saucers in her hands. “Are you all right, Jen?”
Trying not to sound too hearty, Jenna injected a faint note of surprise into her reply. “I’m fine. Are you pleased to have your brother home? Don’t answer that. Silly question.”
Katie grinned, obviously unable to suppress it. “I never realized how much I missed him.” The grin fading abruptly, she added, placing the cups on the counter, “Callie’s a bit of a bolt from the blue, though.” Her eyes worried, she asked, “He…he hadn’t said anything about her to you, had he?”
“Not a thing.” Jenna made her voice cheerful. “If he’d told anyone it would have been you.”
Marcus interjected, “A whirlwind romance? If even you didn’t know anything, Katie…”
“He did mention her a couple of times, but I never twigged she was anyone special, and he hadn’t said anything about her recently. He says he was scared she’d turn him down, and he didn’t want to come home and have us all know he was nursing a broken heart. She only agreed to come to New Zealand with him a couple of weeks ago, and he decided to keep it secret until they got here, so he could see our faces when he gave us the news.”
Thank heaven he hadn’t seen hers, Jenna thought. She curled her hand around her hot coffee mug, ignoring the discomfort.
Katie added thoughtfully, “And I have a suspicion he was afraid she might change her mind before he got her on the plane.”
Jenna forced a smile. “Well, it’s a nice surprise, isn’t it?”
Dubiously, Katie agreed, “I suppose so. Are you sure you’re okay with it, Jen?”
Hoping she looked bewildered and innocent, Jenna said, “Of course. Dean’s very happy. And I’m happy for him. Aren’t you?”
Hesitantly, Katie said, “I thought it would be you and him. Even when we were kids you said you were going to marry each other.”
Jenna’s laugh should have earned her an Oscar. “We were—what?—eight years old? Come on, Katie!”
“Sometimes when we were older it kind of looked like you were more than friends.”
Jenna had thought so. They’d exchanged kisses from time to time. She’d imagined that, like her, Dean was keeping their relationship on the level of a warm, intimate friendship while they both worked hard at their degrees and were too young and impecunious for marriage.
After they’d graduated, the scholarship had come up for him to study in America. He’d asked Jenna’s opinion, stressing how long he’d be away from home, and she’d somehow concealed her panic and dismay and said of course he must take it, a chance like that wasn’t to be missed.
The kiss he gave her then was definitely not a brotherly one, and she’d seen it as a promise, a pledge, an unspoken commitment to a shared, if deferred, future.
She’d held on to that memory for four years. And now she wondered if Dean even remembered it. Certainly it had held none of the significance for him that it had for her.
Painfully putting her newfound insight into words, Jenna said, “We grew out of it. If there’d been anything serious, Dean wouldn’t have left me to go to the other side of the world for years. Would he?”
Marcus added, “Wishful thinking, Katie. Very nice for you, to match your twin and your best friend, but in real life our childhood sweethearts grow up and marry other people.”
“Did yours?” Katie asked, temporarily diverted.
“Of course,” Marcus answered. “And I didn’t lose a moment’s sleep over it.”
Katie switched her attention back to Jenna. “Have I been daydreaming?”
“I won’t lose a moment’s sleep,” Jenna echoed Marcus, trying to
