There was a commotion in the den. The rest of the women had come back in the house.
Jackie was still babbling on about venues and rescheduling.
Hope rubbed her temple. “You can’t possibly be saying you’re delaying again?”
“I wouldn’t if this weren’t necessary.”
“Necessary? What about your wedding?”
“I’ll be there. I swear.”
“Jackie,” Hope said in low tones. “You can’t keep putting me in this position. It’s…difficult.”
“Well, okay. I know. I’m sorry. But, at this point in time, what do you propose we do? Call the whole charade off?”
She thought of how Brent’s family had come to trust her, and her heart ached. Margaret and Sofia had confided personal details about their lives, and even Elsa had let her in on her non-baking secret. When she thought of her growing attraction to Brent, Hope’s heart nearly split open.
She couldn’t possibly let all of them down and cause a big blowup days before the wedding. Jackie would be here soon enough, anyway. But would it be soon enough to keep Hope from falling harder for Brent and his wonderful family? She just didn’t know.
“No. I don’t think we should do that,” Hope told her sister. “It’s already too late.”
“Okay, great. I think I can have everything settled by Friday.”
“Friday? Are you joking?”
“I’ve already bought my ticket. I’ll fly direct from Nantucket to Boston and pick up my rental car there.”
“What time on Friday? Because there’s a lot to fill you in on. I mean, seriously. A ton. Brent’s not the guy you thought he was.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“He’s really trying, Jackie. Trying to be a good groom, despite this marriage of convenience you stupidly agreed to,” she added with a hiss. She couldn’t help but be irritated. She’d been doing her best to keep up this pretense without losing her heart to her sister’s fiancé, but each day that passed, the situation grew harder.
Jackie gasped. “Marriage of convenience? Who told you that?”
“Brent did.”
“He admitted it? Outright?”
Hope wrapped a lock of her hair around her finger, feeling both sorry for—and annoyed with—her sister. “Why wouldn’t he? He thinks I’m you.”
“Oh yeah. Right. I kind of didn’t want you to know that.”
“So why did you do it, Jackie?” Hope sighed with frustration. “Why did you agree to this in the first place?”
“There were lots of reasons. Loads and loads, okay?”
“Like what?”
“Like… Hang on, Rachel has a question. No,” Hope heard Jackie tell her assistant. “Not the cream-colored ones. Dusty rose.”
Hope rolled her eyes at the distraction, then snapped at Jackie, agitated. “Can you pu-leeze focus on your wedding for one fraction of a second?”
“I will. I promise. From the moment I get there.”
“On Friday?” Hope asked wearily.
“Yes.”
“You never answered my question. About your engagement.”
There was a long pause on the line, then Jackie sniffled. “All right, it was Rodney.”
“Rodney Campbell?” Hope asked, astounded. “Your ex? What has he got to do with anything?”
“Shortly before Brent proposed, I learned Rodney was getting married—to Elizabeth Yates, of all people.”
“Who’s she?”
“His former wife.”
“I didn’t even know that Rodney had one.”
“I didn’t, either.” Jackie broke into sobs. “But he said he’d never really gotten over her and had never actually loved me.”
Hope’s heart sank for her sister. “Ouch. Jackie, that’s terrible. You never told me.”
“Of course I didn’t tell you. I didn’t have to because Brent proposed a few months later, and I thought, well, at least he’s never been married before and comes from a good family. I mean…” She paused with hesitation in her voice. “They are okay, aren’t they?”
“They’re actually pretty wonderful.”
“Okay, then. Please, pretty please help this go off.”
“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, Jackie. It’s not only his family that’s wonderful. Brent’s pretty amazing, too.”
“Uh-oh,” Jackie said. “You aren’t actually falling for him?”
“No. No, I didn’t say that.”
“Because, Hopie, I mean, really. You can’t do that. Brent and I made this deal. He needs me, and I need him.” She thought on this a moment. “Business-wise.”
“So that’s what this is all about?”
“I’m sure the love part will come along in time.”
Hope was more confused than ever. When Jackie pointed things out in black and white, it was pretty plain that she and Brent had gone into this arrangement with similar expectations. Neither one seemed to have given a thought to finding real love.
“Maybe you and Brent are more alike than I believed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Then again, Brent seemed different now. He’d come around and was really trying to build a relationship with Jackie. Or with Hope as Jackie. It was impossible to know if he would have tried nearly as hard if the real Jackie had been here, instead of Hope acting in her place. Hope tried to sort things out, but she was a jumble of emotions. Nothing really made sense anymore. She just wanted the pretending to end.
“It means you need to hurry up and get to Blue Hill,” she told her sister. “Whatever kind of arrangement you think you and Brent made—it appears the dynamics are changing.”
“Well, don’t let them change too much,” Jackie warned her. “Just try to keep things steady until I arrive.”
“That won’t be easy—not with Meredith coming this afternoon.”
“Don’t worry about Meredith. I spoke with her, and she’ll be fine.”
“Mom knows.”
“What?”
“But she’s cool for now. She’s promised not to tell.”