Three Brides, No Groom Read Free

spoke, his voice was barely audible.
“We…we were in a closet.”
    “A closet?” Gretchen nearly choked on the word.
    “She was feeling me up, and, Sweetpea, I’m so very sorry, but
I’m only human. I was…excited, and then she had her mouth on me and was saying
things like she bet my uptown girl never did anything like this for me and—”
    “I don’t want to hear any more,” Gretchen said again, more
forcefully this time.
    “But it’s true,” Roger whispered. “You insisted on waiting
until we were married to make love, and I’ve respected your wishes. But I don’t
think you appreciate what sexual frustration can do to a guy.”
    “In other words this is all my fault.”
    “No, no. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Didi. When I woke up this
morning, I was sick to my stomach, knowing what I’d done. I couldn’t be sorrier.
Say you’ll forgive me. I’m begging you, Sweetpea. We can’t let someone like Didi
come between us. If you do something foolish, you’ll be doing exactly what she
wants. The only reason she came on to me was to hurt you.”
    “And you let her.”
    He paused. “Let’s put this behind us, all right? Mom’s looking
forward to you spending the next few days with her. All she can talk about is
the wedding plans, and that’s exactly what you need to help take your mind off
my unfortunate slip.”
    So that was how he thought of infidelity, as an unfortunate
slip.
    “What do you say, Sweetpea?”
    She pressed her fingertips to her temple. “I need time to
think.”
    “What’s there to think about? I told you everything. This isn’t
easy for me, you know. I just bet Didi took delight in letting you know what
happened. She’s just being nasty, looking to ruin both our lives. You’re not
going to let her, are you?” The soft pleading quality was back, the desperation
to make matters right, as if that were possible now.
    “What did you expect would happen when you went into a closet
with Didi Wilson?” she demanded, whirling to face him.
    His bloodshot eyes revealed his shock at being confronted. “I…I
was drunk.”
    “Not too drunk apparently.” If he expected her to sweep his
indiscretion under the proverbial carpet, she couldn’t do it, wouldn’t do it. Not without giving the matter a great
deal of thought.
    “The wedding’s less than a month away,” he protested.
    He didn’t need to tell her the date of her own wedding. “Are
you saying it’s too late to change our plans?”
    “You wouldn’t! Baby, please, don’t do anything stupid.”
    “Like you did?”
    He let her words soak in before saying, “Two stupid acts don’t
make a right.”
    It amazed Gretchen how desperately she wanted to forget what
Didi had taken such pleasure in telling her. The other woman’s timing didn’t
escape Gretchen’s notice, either. While she’d been escorting her parents around
Seattle’s tourist attractions, her fiancé had been doing who knew what with
another woman.
    As if that wasn’t bad enough, Didi had hit her with the ugly
details shortly after the graduation ceremony. Instead of getting to enjoy the
sense of exhilaration and accomplishment she’d felt on receiving her diploma,
Gretchen had seen her world fall apart when Didi cornered her on the front steps
of the sorority house shortly after her parents had left for Canada and
delivered her news.
    “Mom’s waiting,” Roger pressed now, breaking into her
thoughts.
    “Then she’ll just have to wait. I told you, I need time to sort
everything out.” Gretchen knew that his mother was not the patient sort. Stella
Lockheart was a forceful woman who generally got what she wanted. Both Roger and
his father catered to her wishes rather than risk dealing with one of her
explosive outbursts.
    Gretchen could tell by the way Roger’s breathing altered that
he wasn’t pleased with her decision. He’d been calm and in control, at his
persuasive best. Now he was impatient and frustrated. Fine, so be it. She