“Having fun?” Sara whispered to Jocelyn.
“As opposed to being shipwrecked? Falling into an ice crevasse?” she said out of the corner of her mouth.
“At least your cupcakes are giving me lots of work. Tomorrow I’ll be called to let out a dozen dresses.”
Smiling, Jocelyn handed a gray-haired man a cupcake with three nasturtium blossoms on top of it.
“Do you have any more of the lime cakes?” he asked.
“Sorry, they’re all gone.”
“Did you think no one would recognize the flavor of booze?” Sara whispered, making Jocelyn smile. “Come on, let’s take a break. Have you seen Viv’s house?”
“I haven’t seen anything or been allowed to talk to anyone,” Joce said with a groan. “In fact, every time a good-looking man approaches me, one of your thousands of cousins cuts me off from him. Ramsey’s so busy talking to the Williamsburg big shots that I haven’t said a word to him, and Luke seems to be stealing plants from the garden. Plus, the church women come up with something they just have to ask me whenever a man under fifty gets within ten feet of me.”
“Come on inside, and let’s talk,” Sara said as she took Joce’s hand and led her away from the tables, across the lawn, then the patio, and through French doors into a long, narrow garden room. It was furnished with white wicker and several patterns of blue and white fabric.
“Beautiful,” Jocelyn said.
“This is what limitless taste and money can do. You know, don’t you, that you’ve put Viv in seventh heaven today? Everyone is raving about the party.”
“I was introduced to her and about a hundred people. If she weren’t so pregnant, I’m not sure I’d recognize her if I saw her again.”
“That’s all right. She knows you and your cupcakes, and those purple cookies have so impressed the ladies who run the charities that they’re going to ask you to cater another party next week.”
“I do not want to become a caterer,” Joce said firmly.
“I know that, but they don’t. Come on, let’s go upstairs and see the bedrooms.”
“Shouldn’t we ask permission before we go snooping?”
Sara glanced out the windows. “There are four old people headed this way and I think they’re looking for you.”
“Let’s go!” Jocelyn said as she ran out of the room. She followed Sara up the back stairs, where they hurried down the hallway.
“Kid, kid, kid,” Sara said as she passed bedrooms. “Master.” She opened a door. “Guest bedroom. Have a seat.”
Gratefully, Jocelyn sat down in a big club chair while Sara stretched out on the bed. “So what’s up with you and Rams?” Sara asked.
“Did you bring me up here to get the latest gossip?”
“Of course. Did you think I wanted your recipe for bourbon cupcakes?”
“I used tequila.”
“Whatever. So? What about you and Ramsey?”
“I don’t know. I told you that I’ve seen him today, but we haven’t talked. He’s a bit like a politician, isn’t he?”
“He knows everyone and they know him. It’s the way he gets business. So how late did Luke stay at your house last night?”
“I don’t know. I went to bed,” Joce said, watching Sara to see what she’d say, but she was silent. “Tell me, has this town already mated me to one of the men?”
“I think Rams has pretty much laid claim to you.”
“How interesting,” Joce said coldly.
“You don’t like the idea?”
“I’m curious if the twenty-first century has reached this town. Whatever happened to passion? To courtship? To men who make an effort to win you? Gifts? Banners? Dangerous driving just to get your attention?”
“I don’t know what you’ve been reading but I want to borrow it.”
“It’s nothing,” Jocelyn said, not wanting to tell what Luke had read to her. “So who’s Luke seeing?”
“No one,” Sara said tersely. “He lives alone and dates no one.”
Jocelyn waited for Sara to say more, but she didn’t. “That’s it? Why is it that every time I mention Luke everyone clams up? Is he an escaped prisoner hiding from the law?”
“Sort of,” Sara said as she looked down at her hands.
“You have something to tell me, don’t you?”
“Nothing important, just…” Sara trailed off.
“You’ve met a man.”
“Yes!” Sara said. “Joanne Langley introduced us.”
“And she is?”
“The local Realtor. Sometime it’s hard to remember that you haven’t always lived here.”
“That may be the greatest compliment I’ve ever received,” Jocelyn said drily. “So tell me about him.”
“He’s tall, blond, and rich. Of course the rich doesn’t matter, but—”
“You’re not throwing him out because of it. So tell me everything.”
“Greg Anders—that’s his name—recently bought an old house just on the outskirts of town. Actually, the oldest part of the house was the overseer’s cottage for Edilean Manor.”
“That’s not a good image—and don’t you dare call me a Yankee!”
“Okay,” Sara said, smiling.
“So what’s he like?”
“So far, we’ve only been on one date, but he was charming and intelligent, and…and I felt a kind of loneliness coming from him that made me want to…”
“Adopt him?”
“Actually, to marry him, and have three kids. Yesterday I bought a copy of Modern Bride.”
“My goodness! That bad that fast?”
“Yeah, I think so. You know what? I think it was fate.”
“How so?”
“You know Joanne…No, you don’t know her, but she’s the town matchmaker. If you’re single and look at even an apartment through her she’ll start looking for a companion for you. Her sister-in-law is a wedding planner, so it works out.”
“So how did fate work with you?”
“Greg chose me. Joanne and he had a long lunch, and she told him about all the many single women around here, and—”
“Including me?”
“No,” Sara said, then seemed to catch herself. “Sure, she must have.”
Jocelyn decided to ignore that slip. “So Greg chose you from what? Photos? I can understand that.” Today Sara had flowers in her long blonde hair, and her dress was of soft, cream-colored cotton with little rosebuds embroidered on the bodice.
“No. Joanne didn’t have pictures. She just told him about some women. Since Greg is a businessman, she first suggested Tess, but Greg said he didn’t think he’d like being around a woman who spent her life with lawyers.”
“Maybe Joanne told him the truth about Tess having a…What can we say? A somewhat difficult personality?”
Sara smiled. “You may be right. Whatever she said, I’m grateful to her, because he asked for my number and called me. We really did have a lovely time. We talked endlessly about everything. Don’t laugh, but he was even interested in my sewing. He says I should open a shop.” Sara took a breath. “I know it’s early, but I really think maybe he’s the one.”
“How wonderful,” Jocelyn said with a sigh. “Is he a good kisser?”
“The best.” Sara looked at Joce. “I know he’s my cousin, but how’s Ramsey in that department?”
“Oh, fabulous,” Joce said. “A truly great kisser. The man can’t keep his hands off of me.”
Joce’s words seemed to please Sara a great deal and she started to say more, but a noise from downstairs distracted both of them. It sounded as though something had happened, as they could hear children shouting.
“What in the world is that?” Joce asked, jumping up and running to the window to look down at the garden.
If she’d awoken that morning and thought, What is the absolute worst thing that can happen to me today? the answer would have been for one or both of the Steps to show up. Below them, surrounded by every guest at the party,
as though she were a queen and everyone had been waiting for her, was one of the Steps. As always, there were half a dozen hangers-on with phones stuck in their ears, and there was also a tall, emaciated woman with cut-glass cheekbones and a neck like a giraffe standing next to Bell.
“It’s them,” Sara said in a whisper. “Or one of them.”
“Bell,” Jocelyn said as she leaned back against the wall, and for a moment she banged her head against it. “I should have had Rams write them that I got no money, just a falling-down old house. I should have—”
“Who are all those people around her?” Sara asked.
“Her entourage. They spend her money faster than she can earn it.”
“One of them looks like…” Sara’s eyes widened as she stared harder at the scene below them. “Heaven help us! It is!” she said under her breath, then looked at Jocelyn. “I’m sorry,” she said as she put her hand on Joce’s arm. “Why don’t we get out of here and not see them? We’ll sneak out the garage door and make it to the cars and drive away. You’ll never even have to see her.”
“It sounds heavenly. Lead the way. I’ll be right behind you,” Joce said as she ran after Sara. “How’d she even know about this party?”
“There’s an Edilean Web site. Haven’t you seen it?”
“I guess I missed that section. Besides, I seem to see only what people are directing me to see, that is.”
Jocelyn followed Sara down the front stairs at a pace that almost made her trip. “Come on!” Sara hissed as she crouched down, then ran behind the big kitchen island toward a door.
Never before had Jocelyn seen this reaction to the idea of meeting the Steps. Usually people shoved her aside to get to the models. But Sara was keeping Joce from a meeting that was guaranteed to be unpleasant. What a dear friend she was!
Still crouching, Sara reached up and turned the doorknob that led into the garage—and was faced with a little boy about five. He gave Sara a saucy little grin, then bellowed, “Mom! I found her!”
“Just wait until you see what you get for your next birthday, Jamie Barnes, you little snitch!” Sara said.
“Mom! Aunt Sara called me—”
Sara clamped her hand over the kid’s mouth. “You tell and I’ll make you sorry,” she said into the child’s ear.
“There you are!” said Vivian, Ramsey’s tall, beautiful, and heavily pregnant sister.
“Mom! Aunt Sara said—”
“Yes, I know, dear, you ratted on her and she threatened you. Since you and your brother are being babysat by her next Saturday I think you should think twice about tattling.”
The boy looked pale for a moment. “Aunt Sara, I ate two of your shoe cupcakes and they were the best.” With that, he ran through the garage and out of sight.
“Jocelyn,” Viv said, “you and I have hardly had any time to speak, and I certainly haven’t been able to thank you for this lovely party. And what a very pleasant surprise it’s been to find out that your sister is—”
“Step!” Sara and Jocelyn said in unison.
“Sorry. To find out that your stepsister is one of the famous modeling twins. She asked that we find you, as she can’t stay long.” Viv smiled as she held her arm back to make way for Sara and Jocelyn to go through the kitchen and out to the back garden. She wasn’t about to let them escape.
“And Sara,” Viv said as they left the house, “Ingrid came with her. I’m so glad. Maybe now things can be worked out.”
Jocelyn was able to walk forward only because Sara and Viv were behind her. The crowd parted, all of them smiling fondly as they looked from the tall, very thin, heavily made-up Bell to Jocelyn. Bell had on a couple of big leather triangles that exposed the left side of her waist, and her right leg was bare from midthigh down. Her hair was a thick mass of extensions, and a child could have used her earrings as Hula-Hoops.
Compared to the conservatively dressed people around her, she was like a neon sign on a dark night. Some of the women tried to look scandalized, but Bell looked so radiant that no frown was genuine.
“Darling,” Bell said when Jocelyn was near her, then she did an exaggerated bend, as though Joce were two feet shorter than she was. Bell gave double air kisses to Joce’s cheeks, then pulled back and said, “How sweet you look. Really. I would have guessed you to be no more than fourteen years old. I love the no-makeup look.”
Joce knew that to the wide-eyed observers Bell sounded like an adoring sister. Here she was, a superstar, flying all the way in from wherever just to attend her sister’s little party. Joce didn’t dare open her mouth because she knew that what would come out would be “What do you want?”
But neither Bell nor Ash had ever been at a loss for words. “You can imagine my surprise when Ingrid mentioned that her husband worked at Edilean Manor. Such a small world, isn’t it? And when I saw a photo of him, I thought they truly needed to be together. I’m such a romantic. When Ingrid said there was a big party in Edilean this weekend, and I saw that you were catering it with those purple cookies of yours, I just knew I had to come and give you my endorsement. Tell me,” Bell said, batting her falsely thick lashes, “you don’t still put that liquid marijuana in the chocolate cupcakes, do you?”
Three people put the cupcakes down. One woman took a cake from her child.
Jocelyn could think of nothing to say that didn’t involve profanity and physical blows.
“Well, darling Cindy,” Bell said, “I must go, but Ingrid’s staying on for a few days to be with her husband. I do hope you can spare him from working in your garden. Oh, by the way, Ash and I had a gift made for you.”
She held out a thin blue velvet box, but Jocelyn knew what was in it, so she kept her hands to her side. Sara took the box and opened it. The Steps had had the jewel-shaped pieces of coal from Miss Edi set in what was usually described as “pot metal” and made into a necklace and earrings. They were masterpieces of tawdriness.
“I hope you get as much enjoyment out of them as Ash and I did.” With that, Bell gave two more air kisses to Jocelyn, then she floated away into a crowd of young girls who were barely able to control their squeals of delight.
When the crowd had departed, trailing behind Bell, Sara looked at the jewelry set she held. “Is that coal?”
But Jocelyn’s attention was on the woman Bell had left behind, the woman she’d seen from upstairs. She wasn’t as tall as Ash and Bell, and she didn’t seem to have that air of believing herself to be the greatest thing that ever walked the earth, but just the way she held her shoulders gave it away that she was a model. Her beautiful face was made up to look devoid of makeup, and her clothes were simple but probably cost Jocelyn’s last year’s salary.
“You must be Ingrid,” Jocelyn managed to say at last, and the woman smiled at her.
“I apologize about that introduction. Bell can sometimes be less than the nicest person on earth, but she did arrange for me to be here today. Your party looks lovely.” She looked to the side of Jocelyn. “Hello, Vivian. Is he here?”
“If you break his heart again, I’ll—” Viv said, but her husband put his arm around her shoulders and nodded toward the back fence.
“This is between them,” he said. “Let Luke work it out with his wife. Come on, I saved you some of those purple cookies.”
After they left, only Sara, Jocelyn, and Ingrid remained.
“I see him,” Ingrid said, her pretty face melting into a smile, then she hurried toward the flowering trees that ran along the back of the property.
Turning, Jocelyn saw Luke staring at Ingrid, unmoving, his face unreadable. When Ingrid got to him, she put her long arms around his neck and kissed him on the mouth.
It took Jocelyn several moments to react, then she turned to Sara. “I understand everything now. Keep me occupied by married Luke so I see no man but the one chosen for me: Ramsey.” Turning, she started toward the front of the house and her car.
“Joce!” Sara called after her. “Let me explain.”
&nb
sp; “There’s nothing to explain,” Jocelyn said when Sara caught up with her. “The town matched me up with Ramsey, and his married cousin Luke kept me occupied while Ramsey was busy drumming up law business. It worked perfectly. I’ve never seen a better plan. Did you guys choose my wedding dress for me?”
“Jocelyn, please,” Sara called, but Joce didn’t stop walking.
It took Jocelyn about ten minutes to get home. When she was inside, she locked the door, then went to the back and the side and locked those doors too. She even checked the windows to make sure they were all closed and latched. She didn’t want anyone coming inside without her permission.
Her impulse was to pack a suitcase and leave, but she knew she had to remain calm and think about what she was going to do from now on. It was one thing to have a beloved friend leave her a letter saying that she knew of the perfect man for her, but it was another to find out that a town full of strangers had been planning her future.
Jocelyn hadn’t been in the house for more than twenty minutes before there was a polite knock on the door. She glanced out the side window and wasn’t surprised to see Ramsey and Luke standing there.
Her first thought was to tell them to go away and never return, but instead, she unlocked the door and opened it.
“We’d like to explain,” Ramsey said.
“There’s nothing to explain,” Jocelyn said.
“Could we come in?”
“Of course,” she said, standing to one side and letting them into the living room.
They sat side by side on Miss Edi’s yellow couch while Jocelyn took the chair across from them. Ramsey was in his perfect party clothes, meant to show that he was an up-and-coming young businessman, while Luke was in jeans and a T-shirt.
“How is your wife?” Jocelyn asked Luke.
“Quite well,” he said, smiling. “She loved your purple cookies.”