Page 48 of Tempting Eden

“So, your great-grandparents made it very clear that the Rochester family needed an, how you say, advantageous marriage. So, the Fairfaxes would join the family, keep the Rochester name, and everything would be fixed. Very advantageous.”

Adele stopped chewing. “So like, for money, you mean?”

“Yes, for money. Your grandfather, Mr. Fairfax, was what the Rochester’s called ‘new money.’ His family made a fortune on iron mines or some such. He was a nice boy. Very polite. Good looking. But your Gramma didn’t take to him. Not at first, anyway. They weren’t simpatico together.”

When Adele’s face fell, Rosa hurriedly added, “You must remember I was young, too, at the time, so my memory may not be perfect.”

Nonsense, no one was sharper than Rosa. I knew most of the story, even the marrying for money part. But with the addition of what now appeared to be Mother’s long lost love to the mix, nothing was quite what it seemed.

“Anyway,” Rosa continued, “one night, the week before the wedding, we couldn’t find your grandmother anywhere. We searched the house, the grounds, the neighbors’, everywhere. She was gone.”

“She ran away?” Adele’s eyes lit up.

Rosa nodded. “She did. My Papi found her. He never told me where, but it was in town. And she was with Miss Maria. They were intending to travel far away together.”

“So they were like Thelma and Louise?” Adele asked.

Rosa looked at Adele kindly, the wrinkles that reflected her lifelong joys multiplying around her eyes, her mouth. “Something like that, mi corazon.”

My mother, running away with her lesbian lover?What? My head spun.

“So, Gramma’s arebel?”

“Don’t be getting any ideas from this story,” I said.

“Oh, I’m not, Mom. Besides, who would I run away with?” She glanced to Jack.

He shook his head. “I had no idea about any of it.”

“Secrets, secrets, everything around here is all secrets. Seems to me everything would be better if there were no secrets.” Rosa turned toward me but I ignored her look. “Anyway, she returned home and married Ms. Rochester’s father. She seemed changed after she came back. She used to be like you, mi corazon. Smart, talked a lot, laughed a lot. But when she came back, and even long after she was married, and even after she had your mother, she wasn’t the same. She was colder, withdrawn. And I never saw Miss Maria again until tonight.”

“Do you think she’ll change back now? Since her friend is back?” Adele’s hopeful tone tugged at my heart.

“I don’t know.” Rosa’s gaze rose toward my mother’s room. “Hearts are like plants. Some go dormant when they don’t get sun or water. Some wither away to dust.”

“I hope hers is the first sort.”

“Yo tambien, mi corazon. Yo tambien.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JACK

ILEFT THEROCHESTERhome in a somber mood that night. I couldn’t find Ms. Temple and assumed she found a way back home without me. Adele was enthralled with the story of a friendship lost but not forgotten, but something in Rosa’s words reminded me of darker times, of the world forcing a person to make choices that were far too big. I lay awake that night, wishing Eden was stretched out beside me instead of far away on her mountaintop.

The rest of the week flew by, plans, calls, and contracts stacking up as the clock ticked away on our allotted time to sell out the project.

By the time we pulled up in front of the metal and glass marvel on Saturday afternoon, Eden had already sold over half the building. The only unit that wasn’t getting any major interest was the top floor penthouse. It would be a tough sell, given the price tag, but Eden was certain a buyer would show up at the party.

We’d had a smooth flight down to the coast, Tom making his usual banter during the trip. He told some great stories about Top Gun school, but Eden was distracted. “Obsessed” might be more accurate. She was intensely focused on this project, though I supposed that’s how she moved up the ladder at Thornfield so quickly—setting them up and knocking them down.

The flight was quick, as was the drive to the soaring metal and glass structure of Belle Mar. The exterior was completely finished, slick and shining in the late afternoon light. Twelve stories of glitz where the wealthy could come to play. If the outside was any indication, the inside was going to be more luxurious than any high rise the Gulf Coast had ever seen.

We strode into the lobby, our driver on our heels, when all three of us came to a dead stop. It was nowhere near ready. The floor was laid, the walls were spackled, men were working on sanding and painting; otherwise, the room was a lifeless void of open air, no shape at all. Nothing was finished.

Bess, wearing a hardhat and a sundress, was bent over a set of plans and giving the foreman a piece of her mind. Eden cursed under her breath before getting a full head of steam and barreling ahead.

“You said it would be done early!”

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