Page 20 of Nothing to Fear

“She’s only twenty,” Celeste said. “Still finding her way in the world.”

“If you want a lot of kids, you have to start early, right, Mom?” Caber asked. “How old were you when Rankin came along?”

“Nessa has time,” Alice said, amused by her boy. “Each woman has to make her own choice about children and the number she wants.”

“And it’s the guy’s job to go with it?”

“Would you consider it a hardship to satisfy your wife’s wishes? I raised you better than that.”

“A happy wife means a happy husband,” Benedict said, taking his wife’s hand to his lips. “Whatever you desire is yours.”

Not so bad when it came with what had to be a few decades of solid sex.

“Sound good?”

Startled by Darroch’s voice and the heat of his breath in her hair, her attention snapped to him again.

Shit, had he heard that thought? Please don’t say she’d spoken out loud.

“Excuse me?” she asked him.

“Happy wife, happy husband. I can keep you happy.”

“Oh you think so?”

The smirking confidence in his expression poked more fun at himself than her.

“Marriage takes work,” Celeste said. “Young people these days don’t understand that.”

Says the woman who just got divorced. That wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t be snarky, even in her head.

“Family is the most important thing,” Alice said. “The needs of the family have to be met. Work or not, a family comes together in times of happiness and endures through life’s challenges.”

“It’s how we were raised,” Caber said.

“Only thing we ever asked of our boys,” Benedict said. “To be there for each other. To value family above everything else.”

“It wasn’t always an easy process,” Alice said. “We don’t love each other because it’s easy. We love each other becausewe recognize the value of family and the individuals in it. Each unique part is just as valuable as the whole machine.”

“Okay, Mom, sounds like you’re recruiting them to our cult,” Caber said, swigging his wine. “Let’s get through a couple of barrels first.”

“A subject change,” Benedict said. “Bring me up to speed on our Intimates department. I’d be fascinated to learn each of your histories.”

Celeste immediately seized on the opportunity to please their hosts. Good. Celeste could talk all night. Please, be her guest. Hold the floor until the last second, save her from opening her mouth.

Yvette caught her eye, grave in her silence. Yes, okay, she wasn’t the best ad for Breckenridge Retail. Her history was not good dinner conversation, any conversation. In Yvette, she had an ally. Maybe her only one. Her friend had gotten her through, been a rock when she needed it most. If the night called for it, Yvette would cover and redirect, wouldn’t be the first time.

If questions started flowing her way, she’d toss some pebbles in the stream and wait for the rain to cover them. Yvette was that rain. And if that didn’t work? Well, the palace was big enough, there had to be a back door out of there somewhere.

SIX

“YOU WERE QUIET at dinner.”

“You’re welcome,” she said to the man seated next to her.

“I don’t think that was what I meant.”

“If it wasn’t, it should’ve been. Better I keep my mouth shut as much as possible.”

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