The Wedding Wager (6 page)

That thought chilled him to the bone.

CHAPTER SEVEN

MEGAN COULDN’T PUT
it off any longer. She had to let her parents know that she was out of the hospital and doing well. If she didn’t call, her mother would be heartbroken when she learned that Megan had gone on with her life without giving her an update. And her mother always found out.

Her dad? Well, he wouldn’t care one way or another, and that was fine with Megan. They had said their goodbyes the day she decided to go to college instead of following her parents to Guatemala.

“Missionary work is important,” he said. “More important than running around with your high school friends for another four years. It’s time you settled down into some good works.” His voice had shaken the walls of the flimsy rental they were living in.

Megan had found herself backed against a wall, her father’s words banging against her eardrums and her sensibilities. But if she surrendered about college, she knew she would never see her friends again, and she would lose all hope of living her own life.

“Yell all you want, dad. I’m not going to Guatemala. I’m going to college. I have an acceptance letter!”

“Well, I’m not paying for it! I’m not going to pay someone to turn my daughter away from the path of the Holy toward the worldly! And I’m not yelling, I’m voicing my opinion!”

Vernon Mully’s features always looked angry, even when he professed to be happy about something. Megan had a theory. She thought all those years of preaching the wrath of God had soured his visage to the point that he could no longer smile or look happy.

Glenda Mully stepped in quietly, as she always did. “Vernon, a stranger would think you’re threatening our daughter if he saw you looking so intent. Why don’t you back away. Megan, you come stand over here. There are lots of people of faith out in the world. There’s even a campus ministry. I’ve been reading Megan’s brochures. And she
is
going to college.”

“There’s no money for college,” bellowed Vernon.

“Megan knows that. She plans to work her way through, don’t you, dear.”

“Yes,” said Megan. “I’ve always known I’d have to pay for it myself.”

“Well, go, then,” said Vernon, his volume inching down a bit. “If college is what you want, just go. We’ll build the mission ourselves! I have to work on my sermon.” And with that, slightly deflated, he left them alone.

“Your father—”

“I know, I know,” said Megan. “He means well. He always means well. He just thinks God can’t love anybody who doesn’t bluster and yell all the time.”

“His powers of persuasion used to be more subtle, when we were younger.”

“Oh, mom, do you have to go to Guatemala? Isn’t there good work he could do here in the States?”

Glenda Mully pushed a stray lock of hair out of Megan’s face. “I’ve followed him everywhere else,” she said, “like a dutiful wife, and I guess I’ll follow him to Guatemala. But don’t you worry. You’ll hardly know I’m gone. You’ll be at school, meeting new people, learning wonderful things! I’m so proud of you.” She lowered her voice. “And there’s something I want to show you. Come with me.”

She led Megan into the tiny bedroom that Megan had decorated by covering the walls with pictures from magazines. Beautiful homes, new cars, even dogs and cats and ponies, were all lined up to represent the future she wanted for herself. A future that would never be hers if she ended up in Guatemala taking care of orphans with her parents.

“Close the door, dear.”

Megan did so. She was puzzled, but she waited patiently while her mother pulled a box off the shelf of her closet. It was tucked far back from the edge, and Megan had never noticed it there.

“I always keep this in your room,” said her mother softly, “because your father never comes in here.”

Glenda settled on the edge of the narrow bed with the box in her lap. Her hands were roughened with work and her blond hair lightened with streaks of white and gray, but her blue eyes sparkled with the joy of her secret. She patted the bed and Megan sat beside her.

“What is it, mom?”

“Something I’ve been working on for years. It’s our secret. If your father knew about it—” She paused. “—well, he doesn’t, so let’s keep it that way.” She opened the box.

At first Megan thought it was empty. There was nothing inside. Nothing, except a small blue checkbook and a bank statement.

“I’ve been saving a little here and there over the years,” said Glenda. “When I saw that spark of learning in you, that joy you expressed every morning on your way out the door to go to school, I knew I had to find a way to help you go to college. I know it’s not much, but there’s hardly any left over after running the household, you know.”

Megan unfolded the bank statement and her mouth dropped open. “Mama! There’s five thousand dollars in here!”

“Shhh. The Guatemalan mission attracts donors. Your father has already raised seventy thousand toward the building. This money here came from me scraping and doing without for years. And I didn’t do all of that to buy windows and doors for strangers. It’s not much as far as college expenses go, but it will get you a room near campus. It’ll go quite a ways if you’re careful.”

Megan hugged her mother tight. “Oh, I will be. I’ll be so careful, mom! And I’ll get a job right away, and I’m a resident here so I don’t have to pay out-of-state tuition.” Her voice caught in her throat. “Thank you, mama.”

Glenda smiled. “And as for me being in Guatemala, just remember our code word.”

Megan wiped a tear away. “Code word?”

“At camp that year, remember? Your father’s parishioners wanted the church to sponsor a summer camp experience? And you didn’t want to go because you were only eight and the other kids were ten or older?”

Megan nodded. Her lips formed a grim line. “And dad said it would look bad if his child didn’t attend because he was the pastor. I was scared to death.”

“You’d never been away from home before,” said her mother. “I tried to convince your friends’ parents to exchange sleepovers, but your little friends were afraid of your father.”

“He’s blustery,” said Megan.

Her mother laughed. “Yes, he is. So when you packed for camp, what did I tell you?”

“When you called me every night to see if I was okay, all I had to do was say the secret code word and you would come get me, no matter what.”

“That’s right. You never had to use it, though, because when you got to camp, you had so much fun.”

Megan nodded. “I did, didn’t I?” She didn’t add that a big part of her fun was the fact that her father had not been around at camp to put his stern kibosh on everything she did. Megan put a finger to her lips and whispered, “Unicorn.”

Glenda nodded. “That’s right. You remembered.”

Surrounded now by the luxury of Kevin Wake’s hotel suite, Megan shook off the past and the tender feelings that crept up on her whenever she thought about her mother. She
had
remembered that code word. In the hospital after the accident, when the doctors told her she would need surgery and physical therapy, she asked a nurse to call her mother with a message: her location and the word “unicorn.” And her mother came.

Megan was still on heavy pain medications when her mother had to leave again, so she couldn’t recall if she ever found out how her mother got to her bedside from Guatemala. All she knew was that, when she came out of three days of induced coma, her mother was at her side.

Yes, she would have to call her mother and let her know that she was out of the hospital and doing well.

Physically, anyway. She reached for the hotel phone.

As for the rest of it?

She pulled her hand back. How would she explain the rest of it?

A soft knock at the door momentarily postponed that decision.

CHAPTER EIGHT

JEFFREY KNOCKED AGAIN.
“Ms. Mully? Your dinner is here.”

A moment later, Megan opened the door.

Jeffrey added, “I also brought your shopping bags up, ma’am.” He waved a hand at the pile of purchases he’d set beside her door.

“Oh, thank you. I’ll put them away.” She reached for the bags.

“Your dinner will get cold,” said Jeffrey. “I’ll just set them inside the door for you. Mr. Wake is waiting.”

“Oh, all right.” Megan took a breath and headed for the living area with the wall of windows. She hadn’t expected dinner to arrive so soon. The rest period she’d been craving had only lasted half an hour, but on the other hand she was famished.

Kevin Wake was seated at a table for two. His square jaw, piercing hazel eyes, and dark wavy hair made him look like a movie star, and the lavish surroundings only enhanced the feel of movie magic. Megan could imagine him tramping up and down hills with a lumberjack’s axe on his shoulder. And she could equally picture him in a tuxedo at a Hollywood premiere. She pulled herself up short when she began to imagine him as a scantily clad lifeguard on a beach.

On closer inspection, Megan noticed that the table had wheels and realized this was how the waiter had delivered dinner.

“That was fast,” she said.

Kevin indicated the other chair. “The service here has been excellent.”

Megan sat and examined her plate. The bleu cheese burger and salad she’d requested awaited her. “Oh, this looks wonderful!”

Kevin suppressed a smile. “I love it when women enjoy their food.”

Megan took her first bite and her eyes rolled in ecstasy. Around a mouthful of burger she mumbled, “Wommmberful.”

Kevin laughed. “Good. I hope mine is that delicious.” He cut into his steak.

Jeffrey cleared his throat.

“Yes, Jeffrey?”

“If you don’t need me, sir, I’ll retire for the evening.”

“Certainly. Thanks for your help today.”

Megan dabbed at her lips with her serviette. “Mmmm, yes, Jeffrey, thank you so much. I could not have handled all that shopping without you.”

Jeffrey smiled at her. “You’re welcome.” He gave her a brisk nod and retreated to an area at the back of the suite.

Megan looked puzzled. “Where is Jeffrey’s dinner?”

“In his room.”

“But shouldn’t he eat out here with us?”

Kevin sipped at a glass of wine. “That’s not how it works,” he said. “Servants do not eat with the family.”

“Oh.” Megan concentrated on her plate. She was glad this marriage thing was just a job, because she wasn’t sure she could ever really marry a man who maintained such rigid class distinctions. Her disapproval floated in the air.

Kevin sighed. “Look, Megan, you will be going to the summer place in preparation for our wedding. It’s important that you know how things work. Jeffrey and I have shared many meals together. But when it comes to my parents and the way they live, don’t be shocked when you see the servants retiring to another room for meals. Except for when they’re serving, of course.”

“Of course.” Megan tried to say it with a straight face, but she couldn’t. She burst out laughing. “Sorry. This will take some getting used to.”

After a while, Kevin said, “You never told me why you were in the hospital for so long. Even with serious injuries, don’t they shove people out the front door as soon as they can?”

“Is it important?”

“Well, actually, it’s a great cover story for why I haven’t brought you to meet the parents sooner. I thought we could just go with the hospital thing as a reason why they don’t know anything about you yet.”

“That makes sense,” said Megan. “The fewer lies we have to tell, the simpler this will be. I told you I was in a car accident. My injuries were serious and required surgery. The worst was a broken femur. It got infected, and I was on intravenous antibiotics for a very long time. Every time they thought we’d beat the infection and they took me off the IV, the darn thing would recur. I don’t know if it was the same one or different every time. It didn’t matter. They couldn’t release me until that was cleared up. I would begin my physical therapy, then be so weakened by the infections that we had to start over.”

“Sounds awful.”

“It was. But the staff was very kind to me. Nurses are God’s angels on earth. I don’t think I would have survived it all if they hadn’t been so kind.”

Kevin lifted the lid on another large platter on the table. “Care for dessert?”

Megan’s eyes lit up. “Is that bowl filled with whipped cream?”

“I like to spoon it on my chocolate cake,” said Kevin. “Or perhaps you would prefer the Napoleon? Or the sorbet? Or the mousse?”

“Is the Napoleon that pastry that looks like it’s wearing a uniform?”

“I never thought of it that way, but the icing does look a bit formal, doesn’t it? Here.” He handed her the plate with the Napoleon on it.

“And whipped cream,” said Megan. “Pretty please.”

Kevin smiled and spooned a large dollop of whipped cream on the pastry. “More?”