“It’s not a lie. The reason I’m telling you should be clear. I’m trying to protect my family from your vengeful destruction. Being the richest woman in this horrid, ugly little town is the only thing that makes it tolerable. I like being married to the most influential man in the county. I won’t let you destroy everything Angus has created for me. I won’t let you cause dissent in my family. Celina did. This time, I won’t allow it.”
“Ladies, ladies.” Junior came into the room, laughing indulgently. “What is all the shouting about? See a spider?”
His manner changed drastically when he sensed the seething animosity between them. It was sulfuric, as real as the ozone in the air after lightning has struck nearby. “Mother? Alex? What’s wrong?”
Alex stared at Sarah Jo, whose face was as serene and complacent as a cameo. Alex spun toward the door, sending the small chair toppling over. She rushed from the room and clambered down the stairs.
Junior gave his mother a searching look. She turned her back on him and returned to the divan, picked up her teacup, and took a sip.
Junior raced down the stairs after Alex and caught up with her at the front door, where she was unsuccessfully trying to work her arms into the sleeves of her coat.
He grabbed her upper arms. “What the hell is going on?”
Alex averted her head so he wouldn’t see her tears. She tried to disengage his hands. “Nothing.”
“You hardly look like you’ve been to a tea party.”
“Tea, ha!” Alex said, tossing back her head. “She didn’t invite me out here to drink tea.” She sniffed and batted her eyes in an effort to keep the tears from falling. “I guess I should thank her for telling me.”
“Telling you what?”
“That I was a biological accident.” Junior’s face went blank with shock. “It’s true, then, isn’t it?” Junior’s hands fell away from her arms and he tried to turn away. Reversing their positions, Alex gripped his arm and forced him back around. “Isn’t it?” Her tears finally overflowed her eyelids. “Say something, Junior!”
He looked uncomfortable with admitting the truth. It was Alex who verbally pieced together the scenario.
“Celina came back from El Paso. She’d had her fling with a soldier and was ready to reconcile with Reede. They probably would have, too, if it hadn’t been for me, right?” She covered her face with her hands. “Oh, God, no wonder he hates me so much.”
Junior pulled her hands away from her face and looked at her with sincere blue eyes. “Reede doesn’t hate you, Alex. None of us did then, or do now.”
She laughed shortly, bitterly. “I’ll bet Albert Gaither hated the very thought of me. He was forced to get married.” Her eyes went round, and she spoke in a rapid, short-winded, staccato voice. “This explains so much. So much. Why Grandma Graham was strict about my dating—who I went with, what time I got home, where I’d been.
“I resented her for being so inflexible because I’d never given her any reason to mistrust me. I guess her overprotectiveness was justified, wasn’t it?” Her voice rose to a near-hysterical pitch. “Her daughter got knocked up, and twenty-five years ago, that was still a definite sin.”
“Alex, stop this.”
“That explains why Grandma never really loved me. I ruined Celina’s life, and she never forgave me for it. Celina couldn’t have Reede, couldn’t have you, couldn’t have a future. And all because of me. Oh, God!”
The curse, or prayer, was cried in a wailing voice. Alex turned away from him and yanked the door open. She ran across the porch and down the steps toward her car.
“Alex!” He started after her.
“What the hell’s going on?” Angus demanded as Alex rushed past him toward her car.
“Leave her alone, you two.” Sarah Jo was standing at the top of the stairs, where she had watched and overheard everything.
Junior spun around. “Mother, how could you? How could you hurt Alex that way?”
“I didn’t tell her to hurt her.”
“What’d you tell her?” Angus asked. He filled up the open doorway, baffled and impatient because no one was answering his questions.
“Of course it hurt her,
” Junior said. “You knew it would. Why tell her at all?”
“Because she needed to know. The only one who can hurt Alex is Alex herself. She’s chasing an illusion. The mother she’s looking for didn’t exist in Celina Gaither. Merle filled her head with a lot of nonsense about how wonderful Celina was. She forgot to tell the girl how devious her mother was. It was time Alex found out.”
“Shit!” Angus cursed. “Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?”