Breath of Scandal(71)

her inexpertly painted lips twitching with disapproval, Myrajane gave her a critical once-over. "You haven't told me why you're answering the door to my cousin's house."

"I live here," Jade replied.

"Jade?" Feeling wooden, she turned as Hank approached from the back of the house. Myrajane gaped at his ponytail with palpable horror. "I'm Hank Arnett, " he said, extending his hand to Lamar. "Were you friends of Dr. Hearon?"

"Mitchell was my second cousin," Myrajane declared icily. "Where is his widow?"

Her tone of voice implied that the situation was being handled poorly by people unsuitable to handle it at all. "I'll let Cathy know you're here," Jade said, heading toward the staircase. "Hank, if you will . - ."

Her voice trailed off as she vaguely gestured toward the living room. Hank was looking at her strangely. Apparently he noticed that something was amiss, but his worst guess wouldn't have come close to describing what she had felt when she opened the door and saw Lamar.

Turning quickly, she ran upstairs. On the landing, she pressed her back flat against the wall and crammed her fists against her lips. She pinched her eyes shut, but patches of color burst against her eyelids from the inside. There was a roaring sound in her ears.

Four years. The impact should have been dulled in four years. But when she came face to face with Lamar, rage had bubbled within her so hotly that she had wanted to claw at his face and pummel his body. She had wanted to hurt him as badly as she had been hurt. Miraculously, she had contained herself, but the thought of being under the same roof with him made her shudder with revulsion. She wanted to wash herself, take a scalding bath, scrub herself as she had done following the rape.

She had no choice, however, except to bear up. For Cathy's sake she couldn't make a spectacle of herself. Cathy needed her today. Moving mechanically, she walked to the master-bedroom door and knocked.

"Cathy, you have guests downstairs." "Come in, please."



198



Sandra Brown



Breath of Scandal



199



Cathy was having difficulty fastening the high collar of her black dress. Jade moved behind her and did it for her, Cathy looked at herself in the mirror.

"Mitch hated me in black. He said it was too dramatic a color for me." Inquisitively, she tilted her head to one side. "Do you think he meant that as a compliment?9'

Jade rested her chin on the other woman's shoulder and pressed the side of her head against Cathy, looking in the mirror at the two of them. "Of course he did. He thoughi you were ravishing."

Cathy smiled tremulously. "Sometimes I forget that he's gone, Jade. I turn to say something to him, and then I suddenly remember and experience the pain all over again. It's like a fresh wound, you know?"

How well she knew. That's exactly how she had felt when she opened the door to Lamar Griffith a few minutes earlier. "Myrajane Griffith from Palmetto just arrived. She's waiting downstairs for you."

Cathy was fiddling with the articles on her dresser. "Where's my handkerchief? I wanted to carry the one Mitch bought me that summer we went to Austria."

The embroidered handkerchief was in plain sight. Jade picked it up and handed it to Cathy. "She said she was Mitch's cousin."

"You must mean Myrajane Cowan." "Griffith is her married name."

"I'd forgotten. I don't know her very well. Mitch couldn't stand her. Her mother and Mitch's mother were first cousins, I believe. We hadn't seen her for years, but she's the type who would have felt slighted if she hadn't been personally notified. I called her the night Mitch died."

"Mrs. Griffith and ... and her son, Lamar, were almost as shocked to see me here as I was to see them."

Cathy ceased looking for her wristwatch among the scattered items on the dresser. Even in her bereavement, she discerned the hollowness in Jade's voice.

"I didn't leave Palmetto under ideal circumstances, Cathy. There was a ... a scandal. I wanted you to hear it from me first in case they say something to you about it,"

Cathy's eyes blinked angrily. "They'd better not." "And I don't want them to know about Graham. No one



in Palmetto knows about him, and I have reasons for wanting to keep it that way."

"Reasons you can't share with me?" Jade looked away and shook her head.

"Jade," Cathy said, reaching for her hand, "Mitch loved you. I love you. Nothing can change that. If I'd known that Myrajane conjured up bad memories for you, I wouldn't have phoned her."

The two women embraced. "Thank YOU,- Jade whispered.

Arm in arm they went downstairs and entered the living room. Myrajane was sitting on the edge Of the sofa, her posture rigid. Lamar was occupying a chair, looking tense and uncomfortable. Hank was pacing in front of the windows. He looked relieved when Cathy and Jade appeared.

"Someone else is pulling up at the curb,,, he said. "I'll get the door. I I



Cathy retained hold of Jade's arm as she moved across the room to welcome Myrajane. "Thank you for coming, Myrajane. Hello, Lamar. Mitch would have been pleased that you came. I believe you already know jade.-

"We certainly do," Myrajane said, giving Jade a censorious look, which Cathy ignored.