Page 26 of Substitute Bride

“Two nights ago. After that big scene at the house—Kelly told you about it, didn’t she?—I guess he did some thinking and realized she wasn’t a good choice for him. She never did like Jill and Julie, and I think he’d finally begun to see that. Anyway, they broke up.”

Deanna’s voice was a little raspy. “Are you sure it was two nights ago? Not last night?”

“No, not last night. Last night we had pizza and he told the girls.” Rose didn’t add that after the girls had gone to bed, she’d fallen asleep with James on the couch.

“But… but…” Deanna trailed off.

“What’s wrong with you?” Rose demanded, recognizing something strange in her sister’s response. “Why is it so strange about him not wanting to marry that woman?”

“It’s not strange. I’m glad if he realized she wasn’t for him. But Mitchell and I were at a party last night, and she was there. She came late—at about nine thirty—and she was telling everyone about the wedding plans.”

Rose took a moment to process the words. “What?”

“She was telling everyone about the wedding plans—about how she and James were getting married in June, how they were going on a honeymoon to the Caribbean, about how happy the girls’ grandparents were about the match. She was showing off her engagement ring big time.”

“What?” Rose repeated, the room blurry before her eyes. “They were already broken up then. Why was she talking about all of that?”

“I don’t know, but she sure didn’t seem to think they were broken up. Maybe you should say something to James.”

“What am I supposed to say? That his ex-fiancée is off her rocker? Do you think something is wrong with her?”

“I don’t know. Could it be some sort of strategy? Is she planning something to get him back?”

“But how would that even work?”

“I don’t know. But she was going on about this sob story of how he was crushed when his first wife died and he finally opened up to her, but she was afraid he would start to feel guilty about moving on. Maybe she was trying to get a lot of people on her side.”

“But that wouldn’t work with James! Does she think he’ll let himself get bullied into a marriage he doesn’t want?” Rose had sat up straight, so upset and outraged over this piece of news.

“Who knows what she’s thinking?” Deanna paused. “You seem to be pretty upset about something that doesn’t really have to do with you.”

Rose fought a wave of self-consciousness. “Well, if he got married, it would affect me, you know.”

“Of course, but I thought you said they weren’t getting married.”

“They’re not. They’re not!”

“Anything you want to tell me about why you’re so upset about this?”

Rose knew exactly what her sister was asking, but she couldn’t bring herself to admit the truth out loud, not even to her sister.

She shouldn’t be feeling this way, and admitting it would make it more real.

“Of course not. He’s my boss.”

“Even so…”

“Even nothing. I just don’t want someone like Genevieve to cause problems for him. I guess I’ll mention what you said just to make sure he knows what she’s doing. I can’t imagine what she thinks will happen though.”

“I don’t know, but she’s smart.” Deanna sounded serious now. “If you want my guess, she has some sort of a plan, so he should watch out for her.”

Rose felt nervous jitters at the idea. She didn’t know what kind of trouble Genevieve could cause for James, but there might be something.

Rose hated the idea. The woman needed to just leave him alone. He wasn’t hers anymore.

Of course he wasn’t Rose’s either, but he felt like hers, and she wasn’t going to let anyone hurt him.

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