Holiday In the Hamptons (From Manhattan with Love 5)

Important enough to bring her to his clinic in the middle of a working day.

“Is everything all right with her?”

“Yes. She saw the doctor yesterday, and he’s happy with the way she is healing. The bruising is fading. She gets pretty tired, but they say that’s normal. And she seems to have some of her confidence back. We’ve been doing a lot of baking.”

“We?” He found a space on Main Street, between a carload of summer people and a beat-up pickup loaded with fishing gear. “You cooked?”

“You’ll be pleased to hear my skills are improving.”

“Wait there. I’ll be back in a minute with food. We can eat it on the beach.” He headed for the weathered shingled building that housed the Ocean Deli and was back in under five minutes. One advantage to being the local vet was that you were shunted to the front of the line.

Fliss was sitting exactly where he’d left her, staring straight ahead.

Whatever it was her grandmother had said to her, it had certainly had an impact.

“Fliss?”

“What? Oh—” She blinked and took the bag of food from him, stowing it on her lap. “Sorry. I was miles away.”

He drove back to the house, parked, and then they walked with the picnic down to the beach beyond his house.

They sat on the steps that led down to the beach, and he handed her a sandwich. “Turkey, lettuce, tomato and bacon. Now tell me.”

She paused. “Maybe I should—”

“Tell me or I will strip you naked and drop you in the water. It’s freezing, by the way.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “Whatever is on your mind, just say it, Fliss. Maybe it won’t be as hard as you think.”

“My grandmother told me some things, that’s all.”

“Things?”

“About my mother. Things I didn’t know. I always assumed—”

He waited, forcing himself to be patient, reminding himself that to some people talking was like ice-skating. It was something that had to be learned, and you were bound to take a few falls along the way. “What did you assume?”

“She was pregnant when she got married. I always knew that. I assumed she married him because she was in love with him and that she hoped that it would be enough. Hoped that one day he’d love her back. Pretty straightforward.” She still hadn’t touched her sandwich. “Turns out that wasn’t what happened.”

“She wasn’t pregnant when she got married?”

“Yes, she was pregnant. But it wasn’t that my father didn’t love her. The problem was that she didn’t love him.” She stared at the water, her sandwich still untouched. “My mother was never in love with my father.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. When my father first met my mother she was in love with someone else. And they couldn’t be together. Wife and family,” she added, in response to his unspoken question. “Grams told me she was a mess after he went away. And then she met my father.”

“At a time when she was vulnerable.”

“Yes. And my dad was crazy about her. He was the one in love. I never suspected it. Not for a moment. How could I have got it so wrong?”

“Not that I spent much time with them, but your father didn’t behave like a man in love.” He thought about his parents’ relationship. The shared smiles, the laughter, even the fights had been infused with love and respect. From what he’d gleaned from Daniel, neither quality had been evident in the Knight household.

“When I first arrived here, Grams made a comment—she told me it was hard watching your daughter love the wrong man. I thought she was talking about my father, but she wasn’t. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. I’m not even supposed to know.”

“Why aren’t you supposed to know?”

“Because it’s my mother’s secret.”

“She never discussed it with you?”