* * *
Jack didn’t say that he’d noticed the young woman hadn’t locked her car. He opened the trunk and pulled out the cases. The misery on the young woman’s face bothered him. Nadine had a look of “please forgive me” but it was Teddy who appeared to be in pain. He thought it would be better if she weren’t left alone. He hadn’t said anything to Kate and Sara because he didn’t want to be accused of playing “rescuing hero.”
There was a woman cleaning the hallway and Jack lifted the two suitcases in question. She smiled warmly at him and said, “Josephine.”
He’d seen the sign on the door and knew it was at the top of the house. It was the only one of the former servants’ quarters that had been renovated.
When he knocked, there was no answer. He set the cases down and was about to leave when he heard a sob. Then another. There was no way he could walk away from that. As Kate would say, “Leaving a sobbing woman would make you lose your hero badge.”
The door opened easily. It was a small room, the walls painted with murals of a summer’s day. The big, canopied bed took up most of the space. Sprawled across it was Nadine’s daughter, her face buried in a pillow as she hid the tears that were making her body shake.
He sat down on the edge of the bed.
She felt the motion. “Whoever you are, go away!”
“I’m a good listener,” Jack said softly.
She turned just enough to peek at him. “Who are you? You work here?”
“No. I’m a guest.”
“I’m...” She put her face back into the pillow. “I don’t know who I am. My father isn’t really... I mean, my mother jilted my—” She cried harder.
“She seems to love you a lot.” There wasn’t any sympathy in Jack’s voice.
“How could you understand? You’re... You’re an American!”
“True,” he said mildly. “Any problems we have, we shoot it out. But then, we don’t have disagreements with each other or our parents. And nobody jumps into bed with anybody else. You English have the market cornered on passion. No, wait! You are a bunch of coldhearted, unfeeling—”
She turned on her back. “You are reinforcing all we think of Americans.”
“That we care?”
“That you have no sense of boundaries. You tell your life stories as soon as you meet.”
“Better than crying into a pillow in secret,” Jack said. “So what did your mother actually do?”
“I... She...”
Jack pulled half a dozen tissues out of the box on the side table and handed them to her.
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I must look awful.”
“A real troll.”
She sort of smiled.
“My father—my beloved father who I adored...”
“Yes?”
“He...” She sniffed. “He isn’t my father. I’m not related to him.” Her voice was rising. “Granny isn’t mine. None of his family belongs to me.” Tears were beginning to flow again.
Jack couldn’t bear it. She needed all the comfort he could give. He leaned back against the headboard and extended an arm in invitation.
“I don’t know you and I shouldn’t...” She went to him, put her head on his chest, and he held her with both arms. She cried some more, wetting his shirt, and his hold on her was snug.
“So who is your father?” he asked softly.
“A nobody. He cleaned the stables. He left my mother as soon as she told him she was expecting me. He didn’t want me. He ran away with some dreadful woman. They—”
Jack had to work to keep calm. “Are you saying your father is Sean Thorpe?”
“Yes, that’s the name.”
“But he and your mother greatly disliked each other.”
“Grow up!”
“Right.” Jack glanced at the door. He wanted to run to tell Kate and Sara. “Tell me everything.”
Teddy moved away and blew her nose again. “I don’t want to know all of it. Mother tried to tell me but I couldn’t bear to listen.”
“Are you upset because you don’t think you still have the right to be called a ‘lady’?”
“What a snob thing to say! I’m angry because I’ve been lied to for my entire life. She could have told my real father her situation. He would have saved her. He would have rescued us from a life of poverty. He was a man of honor and—”
“I don’t think Nadine’s father would have allowed you to live in poverty.”
Teddy waved her hand. “That’s beside the point. That man left her! Abandoned her. If she’d told me that long ago, I would have understood. Can you imagine what it’s like to know your own father didn’t want you?”
“Yes,” Jack said. “Vividly. Did Nadine tell you when she and Sean first got together?”
“She tried.” Teddy held out her hand and he gave her more tissues. “She said it was love at first sight. No! It was passion at first sight. But she said she couldn’t tell anyone. I don’t know why.”
“They would have ripped her apart,” Jack said. “Like they did to Willa over her lawyer.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Did she mention riding lessons?”
“I don’t remember. Oh yes. She said it took months to make Gramps come up with the idea of giving her riding lessons.”
Jack remembered Nadine saying about Puck, She believed she knew everything but she knew less than half of it. Looked like that was true! “Can your mother ride a horse?”
“Absolutely not! Horses terrify her.”
“And you?”
“Won gymkhanas and trials. I was thinking of trying out for the Olympics, but—” She frowned at him. “Why are you asking me all these questions?”
“Just curious. Bet you can drive cars too.”
“I’ve won a few rallies.” She glared at him. “Who are you and why are you here?”
For a moment, Jack drew a blank. He couldn’t think of a single thing that he could tell her. His mind was full of visions of the skeleton. He couldn’t very well say If your father did try to run away, it’s quite possible that your mother murdered him.
“Well?” she said. “I’ve just confided in you, so tell me what you’re trying hard not to say.”