“Er—did we ever talk to Mom about things?”
“No, but we didn’t talk to Mom about anything. Mack and I talked about everything.”
Not quite everything, Jenna thought.
“Did Ed adopt Mack?”
Lauren stared at her tea. “No. We talked about it, but at the beginning it would have meant—” she drew in a breath “—contacting the father, and neither of us wanted to do that. Later it would have meant visits from social workers and they would have insisted we tell her right away. We always planned to tell her, but we wanted to do it when we felt she was able to handle it. And I didn’t want that to be when she was young. Also, there was Ed’s Mom.”
“What about his mom?”
Lauren shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“She didn’t know about Mack?”
“Ed didn’t want her to know.” Lauren toyed with her mug. “He knew there was no way Gwen would accept him raising another man’s child.”
Jenna thought about the woman she’d met at the funeral. “Is she always like that?”
Lauren finally took a sip of tea. “Like what?”
“Scary. Fierce. Dragon-like.” Unsympathetic. She was shocked by the unkindness shown toward her sister. “Don’t take any notice of those things she said. She’s distraught, and people say things they don’t mean in those circumstances. Looking for someone to blame is part of the process.” She was pretty sure she’d heard Greg say that at some point.
“She doesn’t like me.”
“What did you ever do to offend her? Before today, I mean—”
“I married her son.”
“That made you her daughter-in-law, not the enemy.”
“I wasn’t what she wanted for Ed.”
“But you’re gorgeous, kind, loyal—”
“—and American. It was like Edward and Mrs. Simpson all over again.” Lauren put the mug down. “Ed was with someone before me. She was the one his mother wanted him to marry.”
“But presumably he didn’t want to marry her.”
“In fact he did, but she—That situation was complicated, too.” Lauren sounded exhausted. “She was there today. Caroline Fordyce Smith. She sat next to Gwen in the chu
rch.”
The whole event was a blur in Jenna’s mind. “The blonde with the dead bird on her head?”
Lauren gave a faint smile. “I think it was supposed to be a hat.”
“Yeah? Because if that landed on my head, I’d call pest control. Ed had a narrow escape.” Relieved to see her sister come close to a smile, Jenna plowed on. “Why did it end?”
There was a long silence.
“Ed can’t have kids.” Lauren’s eyes filled and she shook her head. “I keep doing that. I keep talking about him in the present tense and then I realize he’s gone.”
Jenna didn’t know what to say, so she simply reached out and took her sister’s hand.
Lauren blinked back the tears. “No one knows that. Apart from Caroline of course. Ed didn’t want people to know. I’m only telling you because he’s gone—” her voice juddered “—and because I trust you. His mom doesn’t know. Mack doesn’t know either. She used to ask for a baby brother or sister, but of course that was never going to happen.”
“Why couldn’t he have kids?” Jenna felt cold. The mere mention of someone not being able to have children made her feel unsettled.