Breath of Scandal(75)

Because of the circumstances, she had been able to avoid him today. But tomorrow she would tell him that she would never be able to express her love physically. It was impossible for her to be what he wanted her to be, what he deserved to have. This time, she must make him believe and acceptit.



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The darkness in her heart matched the night. The silence of the house closed in around her. She mourned for Graham, who wouldn't have Poppy in his life anymore. Her heart was broken for Cathy, who had lost her husband and best friend. She grieved for Hank and the heartache she must inflict on him.

In the bleak hours of the night, she almost envied Mitch his newfound peace.

Jade graduated from Dander College at the top of her class. In her speech at the commencement exercise, she publicly thanked the late dean, Dr. Mitchell Hearon, for having shown faith in her. Cathy took dozens of pictures of her in her cap and gown and held a reception in her honor.

The day Jade left Miss Dorothy Davis's store for the last time, the old woman's back was as straight as ever, but there were tears in her eyes. "It's just as well that I've got the store up for sale," she sniffed. "It would take me weeks to find someone to replace you."

What she was really saying was that she could never replace Jade, and they both knew it. For the last year of her employment there, Jade had supervised the entire operation of the store. The other employees answered to her. Miss Dorothy had merely been a figurehead.

"I want you to have this," she said, handing Jade a white envelope. Inside it was the first check Miss Dorothy had made out in years.

"Five thousand dollars!" Jade exclaimed when she read the spidery handwriting.

"You've earned it. If I left it to you in my will, the damned attorneys would end up with it," she said cantankerously.

"I don't know what to say."

"Say goodbye. You're leaving, aren't you?"

For fear that she would break Miss Dorothy's brittle bones, Jade didn't hug her as tightly as she wanted to. She would miss the store and its eccentric owner, but not nearly



as much as she would miss Cathy. Leaving Cathy would be much worse than her separation from her mother.

When she reached home, she sat in the driveway looking at the house and remembering that morning she had audaciously carried Graham up the front steps. He came sprinting through that same door now. He was a sturdy boy with Irish blue eyes and the hint of a vertical cleft in his chin. He wasn't even winded when he reached the car.

"Cathy wants to know why you're sitting out here in the car. "

Because I dread going inside and imparting my news, she thought. Tq.him she said, "I was waiting for my best boy to come out here and get me."

"Me?" "None other. What did you do today?"

As they walked toward the house, he chattered about Sesame Street and a trip to the "place with lots of flowers." "The nursery, " Cathy said, having overheard the tail end



of their conversation. The three of them gravitated to the kitchen, where Jade usually visited with Cathy while she prepared dinner. "I bought some impatiens for the pots on the front porch. "

"They'll be pretty there. What color?"

Jade tried to keep the conversation lively, but, when it flagged, she realized that it was her fault, not Cathy's. She couldn't delay the inevitable any longer.

"Cathy, I've got something to tell you."

"I was wondering when you were going to get around to it. I could tell you have something on your mind." She sat down across the table from Jade. Graham was



coloring in a large book, his tongue securely anchored in one comer of his lips.

"I don't know how else to tell you, except to come right out and say it." Jade took a deep breath. "I've accepted a job with a clothing manufacturing firm in Charlotte." "North Carolina?"

"Yes. I had hoped to find something closer to Morgantown, but, as you know, the college is the only industry here. This is a good job with a respectable starting salary.



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1,11 be working directly with the vice president in charge of purchasing." She looked at Cathy with a silent appeal for understanding. "Even though it means that Graham and I have to move, it,s too good an opportunity for me to pass up. "

jade was prepared to catch her, should Cathy collapse in tearful distress. Instead, the older woman's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "I love the idea of a change. When do we leave?"

CHAPTER Fifteen



Tallahassee, Flonda, 1983



Nearly everyone on the transatlantic flight had fallen asleep midway through the inane movie. Dillon couldn't sleep. The coach seat hadn't been designed for a man his size. The best he could do was rest his head against the back of the seat and close his eyes.

Hearing Debra stir, he turned to check on her. She adjusted the blanket over their sleeping son, then looked up at Dillon and smiled. "He's a good traveler," she whispered. "No one would guess that this is his first flight *"