A Heart Revealed by Julie Lessman Read Free Book Online Page B

better,” Emma said with a gentle stroke to her cheek.
    “After my fever broke, I’ve been feeling much better. I plan to be at work on Monday.”
    “Good.” Emma squeezed her hand. “Think you’re up to some wedding cake?”
    The twinkle in Alli’s eyes made Emma laugh. “Oooo . . . I love wedding cake!” She hunkered down even farther in the bed and folded her hands in expectation. “Tell me all about the wedding.”
    Emma kicked off her shoes and happily chatted about the day—from flower girl Gabe blowing bubbles with Dubble Bubble while walking the aisle, to Charity being buzzed by a bee during the vows. Much to Alli’s delight, Emma divulged every glorious detail of both the church ceremony at St. Stephen’s and the reception at Kearney’s Café, her smile dimming somewhat at the memory of Sean’s altercation with Martin. Halfway through, Mrs. Tunny brought in cake on china plates and her silver tea service, capping off the telling of a near-perfect day.
    When the grandfather clock in the parlor chimed six, Emma rose with a stretch. “Well, I have plenty of paperwork waiting at home, so I better scoot. See you on Monday, I hope?”
    “I’ll be there.” Alli sat straight up in the bed, a hand to Emma’s arm. “Wait—I know how you won the bouquet by accident, but you forgot to tell me who caught the garter?”
    Emma blinked, the thought of Sean’s rage coming to mind. Her smile faltered. “Uh, Sean did—also by accident. You see, Luke rather tricked him by calling his name and tossing the garter before Sean realized what it was. But Sean insists he’ll never marry.” Emma quickly sniffed Katie’s bouquet to ward off a shiver, closing her eyes at the memory of Sean’s violent assault. A lump bobbed in her throat. And perhaps for the better.
    “Emma?” Alli hesitated for a moment and then tilted her head. “Do you . . . do you ever get sad?” Her throat shifted as if she were embarrassed to even pose such a question. “You know . . . regret that your marriage wasn’t like what Katie and Luke will have?”
    Emma blinked as heat swarmed her cheeks. Regret. Yes, something she lived with every day of her life. But not over the loss of her marriage.
    She looked away and caught her reflection in Alli’s dressing-table mirror, wincing as always at the woman whose beauty had been stolen by grease as blistering as the man who’d thrown it. Red welts on the left side of her heart-shaped face had long since faded, but they’d left pale scars that slightly disfigured one side of her lip and had stolen most of her left brow. Insistent that her friend’s scars were no longer noticeable, Charity often teased that Emma was a “trendsetter” with one bare brow in an era when eyebrows were now shaved and drawn on. In typical Charity mode, she had gently but firmly revamped Emma’s entire look—with a Joan Crawford haircut, ivory makeup that hid what was left of her scars, and eyelids and penciled brows dressed with petroleum jelly for that stylish, shiny look.
    Rory had thought her beautiful once, as did the men who often sought her attention before Rory had spoiled that beauty, and yet for all the bold stares and brazen compliments, Emma had never once believed it. Despite men fawning over her from an early age on, her father had made sure that such compliments never changed the low opinion she had of herself, insisting that “any whore can turn a man’s head.”
    Emotion shifted in Emma’s throat as she stared at her image in the mirror, noting the pain in green-gray eyes that Rory had once claimed a man could get lost in. Eyes that had once held so much promise, now filled with tragedy due to a man’s admiring gaze. Charity insisted she was “beautiful,” but mirrors didn’t lie. Rory had called her “a monster” in one of his drunken fits, and no matter how her scars had faded over the years or how Charity tried to encourage her, Emma could only see that he was right. She