Page 57 of The Bride Wore White

“Everything you do surprises me, Prudence.”

“My grandmother taught me how to cook,” she said.

He smiled. “Did she warn you that you might never get married if you didn’t learn how to cook?”

“Nope. She taught me because she said food was a source of pleasure and should be treated with respect. She wasn’t worried about me snagging a husband. The women in my family don’t do well with marriage. Something about our talent.”

He watched her, unable to decide if she was teasing him. She sounded so matter-of-fact about it.No news here, just the way things are.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“That was my grandmother’s theory. She said sooner or later women like us scare men. Sure, they start out thinking we’re a curiosity. They’re weirdly fascinated or intrigued. Sometimes they see us as a challenge.” She set the wineglass down, picked up the woodenspoon, and waved it around in a dramatic fashion. “But eventually they start to get uneasy, and the next thing you know, they panic and that’s the end. They run off with another woman or they disappear or”—she paused for a beat—“they file for an annulment.”

His insides turned to ice. “Is that what happened with your marriage? Your husband filed for an annulment because he decided your psychic talent scared him?”

“Well, that was part of it.” Prudence began to dredge the abalone steaks in the seasoned flour. “But to be fair, he had every reason to panic. And it was my fault.”

“How was it your fault?” he asked. He realized he was feeling dazed and disoriented, and not because he’d had a little wine. This was his life with Prudence these days.

She floured another abalone steak, apparently unaware of her effect on him. “I told you earlier that I have a problem with physical contact when my psychic senses are wide open. I didn’t realize that would be an issue when it came to, uh, marital relations.”

“Marital relations.” For some reason it took him a couple of seconds to realize she was talking about sex. “Huh.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say, so he drank some more wine instead. “Huh.”

“The marriage and the annulment were my fault from start to finish. I was very lonely after Grandma died. Julian was a client and he was—is—a very nice person. Warmhearted. Easy to talk to. Kind. Great sense of humor. Loves dogs, loves to dance, loves to go to the movies. Wanted to start a family. All in all, ideal husband material. So I decided to marry him. In hindsight, that was very unfair to Julian. He never stood a chance.”

“Because he was fascinated and intrigued by your dream reading talent?”

“That was part of the reason it was so easy to convince him to marry me.” Prudence sighed. “But the other part was that he was desperate to rebel against his domineering father. I think Julian sawme as a way to prove to himself and his parents that he was a man and capable of making his own decisions. When he introduced me to his family, everyone was horrified. They were convinced their son should look much higher than a professional psychic who had to be a fraud. I did not come from the right social circles.”

“So you engineered a runaway marriage?”

“In my defense, I would like to point out that Julian was quite enthusiastic about the idea of going to Reno. He bought the train tickets and surprised me with them. I was starting to have my doubts, but the poor man was determined to prove he could make his own decisions. He convinced himself and me that he loved me. I felt guilty for having seduced him with my psychic talents, so I went along with his plans. I told myself we could make it work. But things went very badly on our wedding night. We both agreed we had made a mistake. The only question at that point was how to get out of the situation.”

“How did you obtain an annulment?”

“Julian’s father handled everything. He knew a very good lawyer. Naturally, the family did not want the scandal of a divorce.”

“What grounds?”

Prudence’s smile got very bright and shiny. “Fraud. Apparently I used my skills as a clever con artist to convince Julian that a spirit guide on the Other Side had directed him to marry me.”

“Julian went along with all this?”

“Reluctantly.” Prudence stopped smiling. “He knew it wasn’t true, but I insisted. We all wanted the quickest, cleanest way out. The annulment was handled quietly. I’m sure there was some gossip in certain social circles, but nothing appeared in the papers, so my business was not affected.”

“What happened to Julian?”

Prudence’s light laugh sounded rueful but also real. “He is now married to a woman from his world. I hope he is happy.”

“Have you seen him since the annulment?”

“No. We never moved in the same social circles. The only reason we met in the first place was because he came to me for a dream reading. I’ve got a hunch he does not patronize psychics these days.”

He watched her finish dredging the abalone steaks.

“It wasn’t your fault, Prudence,” he said. “You didn’t somehow use your psychic talents to coerce Julian into marriage.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” She washed her hands in the sink and reached for a dish towel. “You don’t believe I actually possess any psychic abilities.”

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