Best Kept Secrets(26)

face as pale as the double strand of pearls she was wearing

around her neck. Dressed in a full-skirted mauve wool jersey

dress that floated around her slender body as she walked, she

came into the room and sat down in a chair near Alex's.

"Honey, this is Alex Gaither," Angus said. If he was put

off by his wife's reprimand, he didn't show it. "Alex, my

wife, Sarah Jo."

Sarah Jo Minton nodded and, in a voice as formal and cool

as her acknowledgment of the introduction, said, "Miss

Gaither, a pleasure, I'm sure."

"Thank you."

Her pallid face lit up and her straight, thin lips curved into

a radiant smile when she accepted a glass of white wine from

Junior, who had poured it without being asked. "Thank you,

sweetheart."

He bent down and kissed his mother's smooth, proffered

cheek. "Did your headache go away?"

"Not entirely, but my nap helped it. Thank you for inquiring.

'' She reached up to stroke his cheek. Her hand, Alex

noted, was milky white and looked as fragile as a flower

ravaged by a storm. Addressing her husband, she said, "Must

you bring talk of breeding into the living room, instead of

keeping it in the stable, where it belongs?"

"In my own house, I'll talk about anything I goddamn

well please," Angus answered, though he didn't seem angry

at her.

Junior, apparently accustomed to their bantering, laughed

and circled Sarah Jo's chair to sit on the arm of Alex's. "We

weren't talking about breeding, per se, Mother. Dad was just

lamenting my inability to keep a wife long enough to produce

an heir."

"You'll have children with the right woman when the time

comes." She spoke to Angus as much as to Junior. Then,

turning to Alex, she asked, "Did I overhear you say you'd

never been married, Miss Gaither?"

"That's right."



"Strange." Sarah Jo sipped her wine. "Your mother certainly

never lacked for male companionship."

"Alex didn't say she lacked for male companionship,"

Junior corrected. "She's just choosy."

"Yes, I chose a career over marriage and having a family.

For the time being, anyway.'' Her brow beetled as an original

idea occurred to her. "Did my mother ever express any interest

in having a career?"

"Not that I ever heard her mention," Junior said, "though

I guess all the girls in our class went through that stage of

wanting to be Warren Beatty's leading lady."

"She had me so early," Alex said with a trace of regret.

"Maybe an early marriage and a baby prevented her from

pursuing a career."

Junior placed his finger beneath her chin and raised it, until

she was looking at him. "Celina made her own choices."

"Thank you for saying that."

He dropped his hand. "I never heard her say she wanted

to be anything other than a wife and mother. I remember the

day we talked about it specifically. You should, too, Dad. It

was summertime, and so hot you told Reede to take the day

off after he'd mucked out the stables. The three of us decided

to take a picnic out to that old stock pond, remember?"

"No." Angus left his chair in pursuit of another beer.

"I do," Junior said dreamily, "like it was yesterday. We

spread a quilt under the mesquite trees. Lupe had packed us

some homemade tamales to take with us. After we'd eaten

them we stretched out on our backs, Celina between Reede

and me, and stared up at the sky through the branches of

those mesquites. They hardly cast a shade. The sun and our

full bellies made us drowsy.

' 'We watched buzzards circling something and talked about

chasing them down to find out what had died, but we were

too lazy. We just lay there, talking, you know, about what

we were going to be once we grew up. I said I wanted to be

an international playboy. Reede said that if I did, he was

gonna buy stock in a company that made condoms and get



rich. He didn't care what he turned out to be, so long as he

was rich. All Celina wanted to be was a wife." He paused

a moment and looked down at his hands. "Reede's wife."

Alex started.

"Speaking of Reede," Angus said, "I think I hear his

voice."



Eight



Lupe, the Mintons' housekeeper, showed Reede in. Alex

turned in time to see him come through the doorway. Junior's

startling revelation had left her dazed.

From Grandma Graham, she'd heard that Reede and Celina

had been high school sweethearts. The photograph of him

crowning her homecoming queen bore that out. But Alex

hadn't known that her mother had wanted to marry him. She