Tea For Two by Cheri Chesley Read Free Book Online

draping it over a hook by the door on
her way out. She smoothed her hair back on her way to the study.
There wasn’t much she could do to tidy up after hours of cooking
and cleaning, but she did her best before knocking on the open
door.
    “Come in,” he said.
    She obeyed, slowly.
    “Close the door please, Shannah.”
    The click of the latch seemed oddly
depressing to her. She didn’t turn back to him right away, but
pressed her forehead against the door and took a deep breath.
    “Come along, now. Sit.”
    What could she do? Shannah crossed the room
and took her place on the chair he’d indicated. She folded her
hands in her lap to keep from fidgeting and looked up at him.
    Why did he have to be so handsome?
    The thought made her blink and look away. She
couldn’t let him distract her in that way. She had to stay strong
for Garnette, for Royce, and even for Matt and Kora.
    To her utter amazement, Brendan knelt in
front of her and took her hands. She was too surprised to object,
and almost of their own will her eyes swept his face.
    She saw compassion there, and
patience—neither of which she expected.
    “I have just spent the better part of the day
locked in here with my mother and her party plans,” he said. “When
she finally went upstairs for her afternoon nap, I sat here going
over every word you and I have spoken to one another. I’ve
rehearsed this conversation in my head a dozen times, trying to
imagine all the ways it could play out.” He squeezed her hands
gently. “I know there’s something I’m missing, Shannah, something
you haven’t told me. I think you’re afraid, and I’d like to help
you. I’d like it if we could sort out this problem together.”
    Just like that, the fight left her.
Everything she’d rehearsed in her mind to protest his understanding
of the truth seemed ridiculous. Her eyes filled with tears as she
realized she was about to break her most sacred promise.
    “Curse you,” she whispered, pulling her hands
away. “Why do you have to be so kind?”
    Brendan used his thumb to brush away her
tear. “I only want what’s best, for everyone concerned.”
    She shook her head, the last vestiges of her
denial. “He’ll take him away from me.”
    “Christopher?” he questioned.
    Shannah nodded.
    “I can’t deny he has some rights to the
child, and I don’t think you can either.” Brendan wiped away
another tear but didn’t take his hand off her cheek. “But so do
you. Surely we can work through this issue together.”
    “I promised her on her deathbed I wouldn’t
let that happen.”
    Brendan closed his eyes briefly, and nodded
his understanding. “Your sister?”
    “Yes.” Shannah looked away, ashamed. “You’re
forcing me to break my vow.”
    “What did you vow, exactly?”
    “I promised her that I would never let your
brother find out about Royce,” she whispered. “She was so afraid,
so insistent. That scared her more than dying did.”
    “Did she say why?”
    “No,” Shannah admitted. “She may have, had
there been more time. But she died so quickly after his birth.
There was nothing I could do.”
    Brendan pulled her into his arms and Shannah
gave in to her tears. She sobbed all over his shirt, not
considering how wonderful he smelled, or how gently his arms
wrapped around her body. She didn’t consider the impropriety of it
all—she only accepted the comfort one person offers another.
    Her tears subsided at last and Brendan handed
her a handkerchief. “You didn’t break your promise,” he told her.
“You didn’t tell me anything. I flatter myself that I figured it
out on my own.”
    Despite herself, she smiled. “Did you
now?”
    “Well, Christopher helped,” he said.
    Shannah turned to look at him. “Then he
knows?”
    Brendan shook his head. “Not yet, but I think
we should tell him.”
    “Then what did he say that made you guess the
truth?”
    “He told me how much he loved your sister,
and how it broke his heart when she