JakesWildBride (10 page)

Neither Lilah or Jake spoke. But Lilah could feel the flush spread up her body. Sometimes being fair-skinned was a frightful curse.

“Where did you take her?” Peggy asked.

“We went to New Orleans.”

“You, you,” Peggy couldn’t seem to speak. “But where did you stay?”

“At a lovely hotel,” Lilah said gently.

“You stayed in a hotel room with him?” Marion asked. She and Tom exchanged a significant look.

“A suite actually,” Jake said.

“I thought it was a mistake, but it’s true, isn’t it?” Tom tapped at the picture on the front page. And in that moment, Lilah felt just a tiny bit sorry for the shock on Tom’s face.

“I knew Marion would get the Times-Picayune,” Lilah murmured.

“Yes.” Jake peered over her shoulder and looked at their picture. She could see him grinning like an idiot. “You can’t see Elvis.”

“Thank goodness for small miracles.” She smiled back at him, and for a moment, lost herself in the warmth of his smile.

“What? What’s true?” Peggy wailed. “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?”

“She’s not usually this, um,” Lilah hesitated, at a loss for words. “It must be the hormones.”

“She thinks I’m the anti-Christ.” But Jake grinned as he said it.

“What’s true?” Peggy said through gritted teeth.

Sheriff Thompson leaned against the side of his car, obviously waiting for the answer. Even if he didn’t understand the question.

This was it. Lilah had to make this good. It was the beginning of her campaign to get Jake the respect he deserved. She pasted on a brave smile and turned to look at Jake, trying to put as much love and admiration in her gaze as she could. It wasn’t as hard as it should have been.

“Jake and I....” Lilah lost herself in the heat of his eyes. He had good eyes. Not wild like she’d thought he would have when she first saw him in the church. Her daddy had always said, a man’s grit is in his eyes.

“Jake and you what?” Peggy demanded.

Jake had grit and he deserved her help. “Jake and I got married last night,” Lilah announced.

“Married?” Peggy screeched.

Then she fainted dead away.

***

Peggy reclined against a stack of pillows on the floral sofa, where Jake had put her after he’d caught her on the way down.

The sheriff was gone. Jake had thought, if nothing else, he had one ally in town. But, after he found out about their marriage, the sheriff had aimed a significant look at Jake.
Stay on the straight and narrow boy.
Not exactly an inspiring show of support.

“What were you thinking?” Peggy slung her hand over her eyes.

She always had been melodramatic.

Jake caught Peggy’s malevolent stare and his amusement faded.

“Let’s worry about you and the baby right now.” Lilah fussed and fretted over Peggy like a mother hen. She patted Peggy’s stomach with a gentle hand. A strangely wistful expression crossed her face. “All this excitement can’t be good for her.”

“You’re right. You’re right.” Peggy rubbed her giant belly in little circles.

Tom paced behind the sofa. Marion sat quietly in a chair by the fireplace. And Jake stood off to the side. Not involved, just waiting patiently for this charade to end. After all he had nowhere to go but home.

“Jake would you get Peggy a glass of water, please?”

“Sure.” He was happy to leave the room and have something to do. He found the ancient kitchen with little difficulty.

Tom followed him quickly. “Jake. What did you do?”

“Why does everyone assume I’m the one who did something? Has it ever occurred to you that Lilah dragged me into a bar, forced me to enter a contest and begged to get married?”

“No,” Tom said gently.

Jake couldn’t resist the dig. He was tired of always being the bad guy. “Then maybe you don’t know Lilah as well as you thought.”

Tom winced, but held firm. “Did you get her drunk?”

“We’d both had a little to drink, but neither one of us was drunk when we got married.” Just thinking about the ceremony caused him to smile. He hoped the pictures turned out well. He definitely wanted one to remind him of an incredible night.

“You didn’t take advantage of her, did you?”

“None of your business, Tommy.”

Tom got a funny look on his face. “Lilah wouldn’t....”

Jake’s temper spiked. “Lilah wouldn’t what?”

“Don’t hurt her, Jake.”

With four short words, Tom had cut Jake to the bone. This was his best friend from high school. The man he’d come across the country for, back to a place where he thought he’d never be welcome again, to be in Tom's wedding.

He’d been right.

With Tom’s warning, Jake felt a rage in him. “That’s rich, coming from you. You’re the one who dumped her the night before your wedding.”

“I feel terrible about that.”

“Obviously not too terrible.” Jake cast a glance toward the living room, where Marion sat quietly.

Tom flinched. “Lilah’s vulnerable right now.”

“She’s a grown woman.” Who could take care of herself.

“Lilah has this innate goodness in her.” Tom hesitated. “I just don’t want....”

“Yeah. For her to get hurt. I got that,” Jake said tiredly. He wondered if it had ever occurred to Tom that Lilah could hurt him. He wasn’t sure where that thought came from, but he knew it was true.

Tom looked discomfited. “Sorry.”

“It’s,” Jake exhaled on a sigh. Tom was trying to protect Lilah. He couldn’t fault him for that. “Fine.”

“Jake.”

“She saved your bacon you know,” Jake said conversationally.

“I never intended--"

”You know what they say about roads and intentions, Tommy?”

Tom flushed guiltily.

Lilah was a really good person. A little prissy maybe. She certainly didn’t deserve what Tommy had done. “It was hard for her. Especially since she worries so much about what other people think.”

“You’ve come to know her very well in a short time.”

Jake glanced sharply at Tom, but there was no cynicism in his face. If anything, he looked surprised and guilty.

“Why did you do that to her Tommy?”

Tom flushed, again.

Christ, this was none of his business. “Never mind. None of my business.”

He’d planned to ask for Tom’s advice. Lilah shouldn’t stay with Jake. It would be worse for her reputation than only being married to him for a day. He’d planned to tell Tom about the fake marriage and maybe Tom would have a better idea. But not now. Lilah would stay with him.

“No. You’re right.” Tom paced around the tiny, old-fashioned kitchen. “You deserve an answer.”

“Wrong. Lilah deserves an answer.”

***

“I believe I’ll go check on that glass of water.” Marion jumped up and fled the room.

As Marion left the room, Peggy stared after her. Lilah could almost see the wheels turning. Then Peggy whispered, “Lilah. There’s something I have to tell you about Jake.”

“Hush for a minute. You’re still all wound up.”

“Are you really married?”

“Yes.” A small glow of pleasure flowed through Lilah. She really was married. Not for long, but at least now she knew what her purpose was. Working to restore Jake’s reputation would also help quell her wildness. She could do this. Once she made a decision, nothing could sway her.

“But, how?”

“Actually, it’s sort of a funny story.” Lilah leaned closer, and told her how their wedding came about.

Peggy relaxed imperceptibly. “So you aren’t
really
married.”

Lilah blushed. She was about as married as she could get in eighteen hours. But she couldn’t tell Peggy about
that
. "Actually we are. It's all legal."

“You didn’t....”

“Didn’t what?” But Lilah could feel her blush intensifying.

“You had sex with him?” Peggy asked in a fierce whisper. “You haven’t had sex in six years.”

“Yes, I know,” Lilah responded drily.

“And you picked Jake to break your fast.” Peggy shook her head. “He won’t stay you know.”

Lilah looked at the concern on her friend’s face. She couldn’t let Peggy go on worrying about her. “If I tell you a secret, you have to promise not to tell.”

“Okay.” Peggy crossed her heart with her finger and then made a key turning in the lock motion at her lips.

“We’re not staying married.”

“Oh.” Peggy relaxed visibly.

“Jake is helping me out. I’m worried about the repercussions at work.” Lilah didn’t mention that she didn’t want everyone to think badly of Jake. “It’s really nice of him.”

Peggy snorted.

“It wasn’t his fault.” Lilah defended hotly. “If anything it was my fault. I talked him into everything.”

“You talked him into going into a bar and going up on stage with you.”

“Yes.”

Peggy just shook her head.

“Can I tell you another secret?” Lilah shouldn’t admit this. Her friend had no idea about the wild thoughts and words that she suppressed. Lilah didn’t want Peggy to think badly of her.

Peggy nodded.

“It was fun. Really, really fun.” Lilah giggled, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

Peggy’s eyes widened, like a magnolia bud ready to pop.

“You don’t think badly of me, do you?”

“To tell you the truth, Lilah, I think it’s great. You worry too much about what other people think.”

Lilah frowned. “Poor Jake. I worry about what the town thinks of him.”

“Whatever they think, it’s well deserved.”

“Peggy!”

“It is. Jake Forrest is a snake.”

“No he isn’t.”

“If you knew the things he’d done, you wouldn’t argue.”

“What things?”

Peggy pursed her lips. “You’re not staying married, right?”

“No.”

“Then it doesn’t matter.”

But how could Lilah help his reputation, if she didn’t know what she was up against. She tried for a few more minutes but Peggy wouldn’t tell her.

Jake walked back into the room with the glass of water and handed it to Peggy. An uncomfortable silence ensued when Peggy took the glass and looked pointedly away. Lilah mouthed, ‘Thank you’, to Jake.

He nodded and sat in the recliner by the fireplace.

Lilah laid a hand on Peggy’s arm. “In all the excitement, I forgot to ask. Where’s Peter?”

Peggy took a quick sip. “He took the kids and went to pick up my Mom.”

“Oh. How are you feeling?”

“Much better.” Peggy took another sip of water.

Lilah looked back toward Jake, slumped in the recliner, his head tilted back and eyes closed. He looked tired. The stress of the last hour was etched finely on his face. He had done so much for her. An unexpected tenderness swept over her. Now, she needed to take care of Jake.

“Are you going to be okay here all by yourself?”

"But.” Peggy sputtered. “Where are you going to stay?”

“Stay?”

“Live. Eat. Sleep,” Peggy said fiercely, as Tom and Marion walked back into the living room.

“With me,” Jake answered tiredly.

“With Jake?” Peggy’s voice rose. “You can’t.”

“Peggy. We’re married.”

Not for real. Lilah could see the accusation in Peggy’s eyes and she was amazed at the sting that accompanied Peggy’s statement. She and Jake weren’t married for real. She’d better not forget that.

“I’ll be fine.” Wasn’t she always?

Jake had managed to put this off for about twenty-four hours but he’d known it wouldn’t keep forever. They sat in the driveway, car idling.

“We’re at your house,” Lilah said hesitantly.

“My
parent's
house.”

“Hmmm.”

He didn’t know what that meant. And he didn’t care. He stared at the imposing facade for the first time in nearly fourteen years.

“When was the last time you came home?”

“Home is in California.” He was emphatic. His home was not here. Had never been here.

“When was the last time you were here?” Lilah asked patiently.

“I came back once for Winter break, the first year I was in boarding school.” He let the motor die and hopped out of the car, hoping Lilah would drop the questions.

While Jake tugged their suitcases out of the trunk, Lilah climbed out of the little two-seater quietly. And he subtly relaxed.

“Only once in all that time?”

Relaxed too soon. “Yeah.”

“How come?”

“My parents got divorced.” Jake handed her suitcase to her and hoped that the effort to lug the bulging Tourister bag up the walkway would shut her up.

He swung open the heavy iron gates, wincing at the loud squeak.