Sunny Chandler's Return

“What was it specifically? Did you want to go on breaking hearts?”

She shoved him aside and surged to her feet. “Why do you, why does everyone, assume that it was my fault?”

She realized too late what a telling statement that was and only hoped that Ty didn’t catch it. Of course, that was asking too much from a policeman. He was trained to catch discrepancies, revealing nuances. He caught her by the shoulders and spun her around.

“Are you saying it was Jenkins’s idea?”

“I’m not saying anything.”

“Not intentionally, but incriminating confessions usually pop out accidentally. What happened, Sunny? What did Jenkins do?”

She stubbornly pressed her lips together. Ty studied her face, probing her turbulent eyes.

“Now that I think on it,” he said musingly, “your behavior tonight in the café was odd in more ways than one. You walked out on him in that church. Therefore, seeing him for the first time since then, shouldn’t you have acted ashamed? Contrite? Embarrassed?

“Instead, you tried real hard to sell him on how happy you are in New Orleans. You’re not cruel. If it was truly you who had jilted him, you wouldn’t have been so bubbly, rubbing his nose in how wonderful your life is without him.”

She turned her head away. He pinched her chin between his thumb and index finger and snapped it back around. “Don’t,” she said.

“That’s it, isn’t it? Jenkins said or did something before the wedding that forced you to take drastic measures. Something untenable. Intolerable.”

“Over a hundred people saw me turn and leave. You’ve heard how fickle I was,” she said, flinging her head back and swishing her hair. “I changed my mind, that’s all.”

“Uh-uh. I can’t buy that, Sunny. Something changed your mind for you. But what? What could he have done that was so terrible, so dastardly—” He stopped, staring at her incisively. “Another woman,” he said softly.

Sunny wrested herself free. She began roaming the room as though looking for an avenue of escape. Her arms were crossed over her stomach. Feeling chilled to the bone, she rubbed her upper arms with her hands. She went out onto the porch, seeking warmth. The sultry air embraced her. The shadows were dense; she wanted to draw them around her for protection.

But there was no escaping the intuitive man who was unraveling the secret that no one else had guessed. He moved up behind her.

“What happened, Sunny?” No longer malicious, his voice was as gentle and confidence-inspiring as a priest’s.

He had uncovered her deepest secret. She should be furious, but found to her surprise that she was almost grateful. For three years she had kept the pain bottled up inside her. It was a relief to uncork that bottle and let it all spill out.

“I had bought gold chain bracelets for all my brides-maids. The one I had given Gretchen—” Behind her, Ty cursed. Sunny didn’t stop to comment on his reaction to the name. Now that she had started, she was eager to get it all out. “—had a faulty clasp, so I had taken it back to the jeweler to be replaced.”

She shivered. He laid his hands on her shoulders and drew her back against him. “The morning of the wedding, I got up early. I had a million and one things to do and wanted to get as many chores as possible done early. Delivering Gretchen’s bracelet was one errand I could get out of the way. I drove over to her house. I called out when I let myself in the front door. Obviously she was still sleeping. So I crept into her bedroom.”

She paused, drew a deep breath. “And found Don in bed with her.”

She said it now with the same degree of bewilderment that she had felt that morning when she saw the man she would marry in a few hours, naked, in the sleeping embrace of a woman she had considered her good friend. Rage wasn’t what she had initially felt. Not even anger. But profound puzzlement.

What in the world was Don doing in Gretchen’s bed?

Of course the answer was obvious.

“They woke up. You can imagine ...” Her voice trailed off; her head dropped forward; her eyes slammed shut; she rubbed the center of her forehead. “It was terribly awkward for all of us. I cursed them to perdition, then ran out.”

“Did he come after you?”

“Oh, yes. He caught up with me and demanded that we talk. I couldn’t believe it was happening. It was so bizarre, so unexpected. I was dazed.”

“What did he say?”

She sighed and made a shrugging motion. “That it had been one of those things that just happened. He had no excuse, no explanation for it. Gretchen meant nothing to him. He loved me, was in love with me, wanted to marry me. He hated himself for what he’d done.” Again, she sighed. “That kind of thing.”

“And you believed him?”

“Yes. I guess so. I don’t know.”