Deception by Jane Marciano Read Free Book Online Page A

happily married, with children of their own? It’s what life’s all about, having children. Carrying on the line.”
    “Mother, please!” I was uncomfortable; I wasn’t enjoying this conversation one bit, it was so unlike her to open up in this way. Normally she was so restrained and reserved. “Stop going on about marriage and children, will you? Marriage is just a piece of paper,” I said. “It means nothing.”
    “You don’t believe that.”
    “I don’t believe in anything or anyone anymore,” I replied, and felt my heart tug in my chest as I spoke. “Besides, having kids isn’t a guarantee that that marriage will last, is it?” I added coolly. “If it were, Dad would still be part of our family and living with us, wouldn’t he, instead of living apart from us, in Jersey, with his second wife and her family.”
    “I really don’t care to hear you talk like this, Bailey,” she said crossly, ignoring the mention of my father. “If I didn’t believe in the holy state of matrimony, would I have got married again?” she added, her tone a reprimand.
    I ran an exasperated hand through what remained of my hair. “You left it long enough,” I said. “It’s been over twenty years since Dad walked out of the house. Nobody’s blaming you now for trying to find a companion during the last years of your life!”
    There was a long pause, and then my mother leaned forward and placed her hand over mine.
    “Please let’s not argue, Bailey.”
    I just shrugged and moved my hand away. There, she was back to her old self. Not wishing to discuss my father with me. As if he was a taboo subject.
    “We’ve gone off at a tangent,” she said at length. “All I really wanted to was to discuss your plans.”
    I remained silent.
    “Okay. Then I’ll say it out straight.” She straightened her back and pressed her knees together primly. “I want you to come home with me,” she said. “Right now. Just come back, no questions asked, and no demands made, I promise. The house is big enough for all of us, you can live comfortably, and we won’t intrude on your life in any way. If you want, we’ll turn the upstairs into a flatlet for you, or maybe even build an extension on the side, if you prefer. You’ll have total independence. Your own keys. Your own front door. What do you say?”
    “I say I’m almost thirty three and it’s time to cut the umbilical cord.”
    Her lips pursed. “Is it because of Oliver that you won’t come and live with us?” she asked. “That you somehow think you’ll be in the way? Because if you think your stepfather isn’t in agreement with me over this, you’re wrong. We’ve discussed it. He’s in total agreement. He very much wants you to come and live with us and make our home yours. You can ask him yourself if you don’t believe me, Bailey.”
    I listened to the entreaty in her voice and I looked at her, suddenly curious.
    “Why should he care so much?” I wondered. “I’m nothing to him. He hardly knows me.”
    She blinked, looked away. “Well, it’s only natural, isn’t it? I mean, he wants whatever I want, whatever makes me happy.”
    I shrugged, turned away. “Lucky you. You waited long enough to find a guy who can make you happy, I’ll grant you that.”
    She leaned back, crossing her long, slim legs. “You do blame me for divorcing your father, don’t you?”
    “I guess I blame you both. For not trying harder to make the marriage work,” I said simply.
    Her nails tapped on the chair rest.
    “Your father and I, we were very much in love at the beginning,” she said, staring into distant space, as if remembering those far off years.
    “Then one or the other fell out of love, right?”
    “Something like that, yes.”
    God, she made me so mad sometimes. “You see?” I said sharply. “Even now, you won’t tell me what happened.”
    I saw her take a deep breath before she answered. “I’m sorry, Bailey, but it was a long time ago, and I swore to myself I