Mirror Image

“Tate likes to fly as much as his father,” she remarked with a wistful smile. “He’ll enjoy the trip.”

“Will you accept a poor substitute for his company?”

The tentative invitation yanked Zee from her pensiveness. “You mean have lunch with you?”

“Would that be so terrible?”

Zee looked her daughter-in-law up and down, finding little about her appearance to criticize. Carole had refined her image considerably since her recovery. She still dressed with flair, but her emphasis was now more on style than sexiness.

Carole’s flamboyance had always repelled Zee. She was glad it had been subdued. The woman inside the impeccable clothing, however, was still just as distasteful as the first time she’d met her.

“I’ll pass.”

“Why?”

“You never knew when to let something drop, Carole.” Zee tucked her handbag beneath her arm.

“Why don’t you want to have lunch with me?”

She had taken up a position in front of the door, barring Zee from making a gracious exit. “My heart was set on having lunch with Tate,” she said. “I understand why he had to cancel, but I’m disappointed and see no reason to pretend that I’m not. We have so little time together these days, just he and I.”

“And that’s what’s really bugging you, isn’t it?”

Zee’s small body tensed instantly. If Carole insisted on a confrontation, Zee decided to give her one. “What are you implying?”

“You can’t stand that Tate is spending more time with me. You’re jealous of our relationship, which is stronger every day.”

Zee gave a soft, scoffing laugh. “You would love to believe that, wouldn’t you, Carole? You’d prefer to think that I’m merely jealous when you know that I was opposed to your marriage to my son from the beginning.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t act like you didn’t know. Tate does. I’m sure the two of you have discussed it.”

“We have. And even if we hadn’t, I’d know you dislike me intensely. You don’t hide your feelings very well, Zee.”

Zee smiled, but it was a sad expression. “You’d be amazed at how well I conceal what I’m thinking and feeling. I’m an expert at it.” Carole’s gaze sharpened quizzically, putting Zee on alert. She composed her face and said icily, “You’ve made an effort to patch up your deteriorating relationship with Tate. Nelson is delighted. I’m not.”

“Why not? I know you want Tate to be happy.”

“Exactly. And he’ll never be happy as long as you’ve got your claws in him. See, Carole, I know that all your loving ways are machinations. They’re phony, just as you are.”

Zee derived petty satisfaction from watching Carole’s face become pale beneath her carefully applied makeup. Her voice was faint. “Phony? What do you mean?”

“Shortly after you married Tate, when I first began to notice a rift between you, I hired a private investigator. Cheesy, yes. It was the most humiliating experience I’ve ever put myself through, but I did it to protect my son.

“The investigator was a repulsive individual, but he did an excellent job. As you’ve no doubt guessed by now, he provided me with an extensive portfolio on you before you became a legal assistant at Rutledge and Rutledge.”

Zee could feel her blood pressure rising. Her compact body had become an incinerator, fueling itself on her hatred for this woman who had, with the cold calculation of a KGB infiltrator, dazzled all the Rutledge men and duped Tate into loving her.

“I don’t believe I need to detail the disgusting contents of that portfolio, do I? God only knows what it omits. Only let me assure you that it encompasses your checkered stint as a topless dancer. Among your other careers,” she said as an aside, giving a delicate shudder.

“Your various stage names were colorful but unimaginative, I thought. The investigator stopped digging before he discovered the name you were given at birth, which isn’t important anyway.”

Carole looked as though she might throw up at any moment. Her difficult swallow could be heard in the silent office, vacant except for the two of them. Tate’s secretary had gone to lunch.

“Does anyone else know about this… this portfolio? Does Tate?”

“No one,” Zee replied, “though I’ve been tempted on many occasions to show it to him—most recently when I realized that he’s falling in love with you again.”