The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(45)

As she spoke, Jack heard the side door to the kitchen open. Charlotte and his mother were back from their walk.

"Can we just drop this for now, for Mom's sake? I don't want to fight in front of Charlotte."

"Afraid your girlfriend will find out we're not the perfect family?" Caroline asked.

Jack laughed. "Trust me when I say I'm not worried about that in the least."

Somewhere at the back of his mind, the faces of Maria and little Jack came to him against his will. Jack wasn't afraid of Charlotte finding out about this corner of the Coburn family. It was the side he was hiding that he was afraid of.

"I don't think anyone's under the impression that this family is functional, never mind perfect, and she's not my girlfriend. She's my fiancée. Soon, she'll be your sister-in-law."

Jack heard the kitchen door open, and he knew Charlotte and his mother would be back in a minute. He looked at his siblings.

"Birthday truce?"

"Sure," Caroline said. The wine bottle glugged loudly as she tipped the rest of it into her glass.

Whit looked out the window.

Jack was anything but sure that things would go well at dinner. He shot a glance at Charlotte as she walked into the room. By her expression, he guessed that his mother had said something inappropriate on the walk. He grabbed his drink and downed it. The liquor stung at the back of his throat as he tried to make a plan for getting through the next few hours without a blowout.





***

Charlotte could tell tensions were running high between Jack and his siblings. As she wondered what to say or do, Jack's mother clapped her hands together and announced, "I don't know who else is hungry, but I'm famished. What do you say we start preparing dinner?"

"Can't Greta cook this for us?" Caroline asked.

"I gave Greta the day off," Angela reminded her. "I wanted to spend this time with my children."

"I'll get it started," Whit said. "Charlotte. maybe you can help. It'll give my brother and sister a minute to wrap up their discussion. Mom, can you help me find the stock pot?"


"I was thinking of sticking around here and making sure all my children make it through to dinner," Angela said.

"We're fine, Mom," Jack said.

"Yeah," Caroline added.

"I'll be the judge of that. No arguing with me, it's my birthday," Angela said. She raised the back of her wrist to her forehead. "You wouldn't want to upset your poor, old, fragile mother."

"Something tells me you'll outlive us all," Caroline said. The room fell silent. Caroline bit her lip and stared down at the ground. "You know I didn't mean anything by that."

Whit held out his hand. "This could take a while. If we wait for them to finish, we'll die of hunger."

Charlotte followed him into the kitchen.

"Can you grab a pot?" he asked. "I asked Greta to leave one out this morning, but I don't see it around. There are six lobsters."

Charlotte rummaged through the cupboard until she found a stock pot large enough to accommodate the lobsters. She carried it over to the sink.

"There's a pot filler over the stove," Whit said.

"Oh," Charlotte said with a laugh. "I'm used to the kitchen in my apartment, though the kitchen in my parents' house doesn't have anything like that either." She placed the pot down on the stove and swung the faucet over it, turning the knob and starting the water.

"I'm used to the tiny sink and single burner on my boat. We weren't always like this, you know."

"Wealthy?" Charlotte asked. She started the stove and watched the flame glow blue.

"No, I mean we weren't always miserable like this. There was a time when we were the happiest family in the world. Our days were sunny and our summers were long. Caroline and Jack have been at each other's throats since our father died, but that's far from the root of all of this. Did Jack ever tell you about Peter?"

"Who?" Charlotte asked.

"Our brother," Whit said.

"I didn't know you had another sibling," Charlotte replied.

"He died before Jack was born. I was twelve, and Caroline was ten." Whit placed the lobsters down on the counter and stared out the window. "I feel like you should know this. Peter was eight. He had bright blue eyes. He was smart. I remember everyone thought he was special the same way everyone thinks Jack is special. He was this tiny little kid. He couldn't have been four feet tall. He was trying to follow me out to the deeper water, and he got caught in a current. He got pulled way out and slipped under before I could get to him.

"We've spent over thirty years trying to forget what happened that day, but I don't think any of us have ever been the same. My father was out of town working, and we were down at the beach. My mother was watching us for the day. We usually had nannies and tutors and a whole gaggle of people following us around, but on that day it was just our mother. It was one of those perfect, cloudless days. I can still see the water. Peter and I were swimming, and Caroline was back on the beach.

"When our mother went up to the house, she had three children. When she came back, she had only two.

"My father blamed my mother for what happened. My mother blamed herself, and I've spent the rest of my life wondering if I could have saved him."