In Name Only (Pine Falls #2) - Jennifer Peel Page 0,49

mom had already picked out the house Jill and Brant would live in once they got to DC. I wondered if maybe Brant truly had already won—if Edward had enough power to rig an election. I knew Brant would only be satisfied winning fair and square; even so, I didn’t think he had a choice.

Yet the most awkward part of the evening was the way John had beamed at me all night like a proud father after I’d taken on Edward. That had disturbed me more than anything. I didn’t want John’s admiration. He may not be the puppet master, but he held some of my strings. And whatever it was that he’d done in the past to put him under Edward’s power, I was paying for it now and in the future.

Grandma growled next to me. “Brant is a fool. It was plain as day he had a thing for Kinsley. And he gave it up for what?”

I let out a long sigh. “Don’t be too hard on him. Politics is an ugly game, and I wouldn’t wish that life on Kinsley. If anything, I’m grateful he didn’t choose her.” I could only imagine what Edward would have done to my sister had Brant jilted Jill.

“I only hope Kinsley will see it that way one day,” Ariana responded.

“Me too,” I whispered.

Grandma thought for a moment. “I don’t think you girls give Kinsley enough credit. She’s tougher than she puts on. I think she should fight for what she wants. Besides, the world needs women like all of you in high places. She would make an excellent senator’s wife.”

Without thinking, I whipped my head toward Grandma in a panic. “Kinsley is a fighter, but this is one fight she needs to walk away from.”

Grandma leaned away, taken aback by my sudden reaction. “Is there something you want to tell us?”

Yes. So much. “No. It’s only Brant has made up his mind. And I don’t want Kinsley to get hurt any more than she has been.”

Grandma’s narrowed eyes started reading me like a book. Little did she know I was living out a thriller. “Everything all right? You haven’t been yourself lately.”

I knew she wanted to say since Brock had come home. On my wedding day, when she had helped me slip into my designer gown, she had whispered, “You don’t have to get married. I’ll go out there and tell everyone the wedding is off, if that’s what you want.” It was like she could see right through the fake smiles and tell that the tears were not the joyful kind everyone assumed them to be. Grandma was my mother in every sense of the word, and she knew me. However, she couldn’t know all of me anymore. I hated that as much as anything. “A lot has happened, is all. I’m trying to catch up.”

“Hmm.” She studied me some more. “Brock treating you well?”

“Like Prince Charming.” Which was true, since Prince Charming was make believe and so was my attentive husband. He had kissed me goodbye this morning before we’d both left for work and asked what he could pick up for dinner on his way home. This was all after making me a to-go cup of decaf coffee and packing me a lunch. I hadn’t had the heart to tell him I was meeting my family for lunch, so I’d taken the brown paper bag and coffee with a smile.

“You never liked fairy tales.”

“Not true. I was obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I think if we’re defining fairy tales as stories about magical people and lands, it qualifies.”

Grandma grabbed her sides and pretended to laugh. “You’re very clever. You girls always think you can outsmart me, but I’ll be here when you’re ready to tell me the truth.” She stood. “I’m going to pretend to go to the bathroom so you can talk amongst yourselves about what you’re keeping from me.”

I watched her go, feeling worse than ever. It was one thing to lie; it was another thing to lie to your mother, your savior.

As soon as Grandma turned the corner, Ariana ran around the workbench and sat next to me. “So, when are you going to tell her about the baby?” she whispered.

I wished that were my only secret. “Soon. I was thinking after my next appointment, in two and a half weeks. I read it’s best to tell people after twelve weeks. That’s when the greatest danger for miscarriage has passed.” Which was technically