“No, thanks,” Jared said. “After Izzy’s wedding, I’ll return. It’s less than a week away now.”
“Are you planning t
o bring your new girl back here with you?”
“Alix is not just my ‘new girl,’ ” Jared half shouted. “She’s more than that.”
“Don’t take my head off! Save it for the kids around the watercooler. Maybe I should start handing out balloons when they do their work correctly. Think that will inspire them?”
“I get your point. The wedding is this Saturday. I’ll be in the office on Monday.”
“Is that a pinky promise?”
“Go count your coins,” Jared growled and clicked off.
After that call Jared felt worse—which he wouldn’t have thought possible. At first he’d been amused by what Victoria was doing. Ken had arrived at the chapel site with Jilly and he was in a fury over what Victoria had tried to do.
“She wanted to use Jilly as her maid! Can you imagine that?” Ken was steaming in anger.
“And your solution was to move Jilly in with you?” Jared asked.
“I had to protect her, didn’t I?”
Jared had turned away to hide his smile, but the next day he was frowning. Victoria had banished him from Alix’s room. At the time it hadn’t bothered him as he thought he’d go up the secret staircase later, but he’d underestimated Victoria. She’d locked the downstairs door from the inside. It was annoying that she knew the house so well, and he wished he could let his aunt Addy know what he thought of her telling an outsider about that staircase. That Jared had shown it to Alix, and that Ken had been allowed to help repair it didn’t matter to him.
Worse than physical locks was what Victoria had done to Alix’s mind. Victoria had made Alix become obsessed with Izzy’s wedding. Everything she’d done before had to be redone and presented to Victoria for approval.
“Perhaps just a few more roses,” Victoria would say as she looked up over a cup of tea, then Alix would go back and do it all over again. As far as Jared could tell, Alix was having to do each task about four times.
This morning he’d tried to talk to Alix about it all, but that hadn’t worked out well.
“It’s just until the wedding is over,” Alix said, “then things will go back to normal.”
“What does ‘normal’ mean?”
“I don’t know.” She looked at her watch. “I have an appointment with the tent people in ten minutes. I have to go.”
He caught her arm. “Alix, after the wedding your mother will hunker down with Valentina’s journal and she’ll probably start searching for the ones Aunt Addy wrote.” If Victoria is still alive, that is, he thought but didn’t add. That secret was gnawing at him more every day.
“I don’t know why that’s a problem,” Alix said as she started down the stairs.
“It’s just that you give in to your mother and obey her like you’re still four years old.”
She stopped on the stairs and glared at him. “What exactly are you saying? That I shouldn’t give up some of my time to help my friend have a happy wedding?”
“No, of course not. It’s just that I’m at the end of the hall and you’re not there with me.” He gave her a little smile.
“This is about sex, isn’t it? You want me in bed with you and my friend can take care of her own wedding. Is that what you’re saying?” She took another step down but Jared extended his arm and blocked her. She stopped but didn’t look at him.
“Alix, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s just that I miss you.” He leaned forward to put his lips near her ear. “I miss our talks, how we work together. I miss seeing you.”
She turned to face him. “I miss you too, but I’m also a realist. You’re going back to work in New York soon and I’m going to stay here with Mom for the rest of my year in your house. She’s asked me to help her with her outline. She’s been having trouble with her eyes so I’m going to read Valentina’s journal aloud to her.”
For a moment Jared couldn’t speak. “And you believed that story?!”
“Believe that my mother has trouble with her eyes? Really, Jared, why would she lie to me about something like that?”
“To keep us apart,” he said.