Picking Up the Pieces (6 page)

He didn’t say anything, simply gave me a tender kiss and pulled back with a gentle smile. “I think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Violet Beauregard. Don’t take that away.”

I told him I couldn’t meet him again and then got out of the car. I picked up the kids and had time to prepare dinner before Mike came home.

Later that night, I laid in bed wondering how I’d gotten to this place.
I
, Violet Mae Gardner Beauregard, was an adulteress. What would Momma say? This would have shown her that
I
was the bad Gardner sister and Rose was the good one. That thought was what spurred me to text Brody at two in the morning and tell him that I’d meet him the next Tuesday.

I knew I should stop it. Each and every time, I told myself not to go. It was wrong and sinful to boot. But I liked who I was when I was with Brody. I felt sexy and desirable. He thought I was smart and funny. He not only listened to me, but
wanted
to hear what I had to say. I wasn’t Mike’s wife or Ashley and Mikey’s mother when we were together. I for sure wasn’t Rose’s sister. The only reason Brody knew anything about Rose was because he came to Momma’s visitation and saw her standing next to me.

But by mid-June, Mike had put two and two together. He wanted a separation, and while it hurt to think that I had failed my marriage, I couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit excited about my future. By then Rose had agreed to open my nursery with me, and Brody had pledged to leave his wife. I loved Brody MacIntosh and I was certain he loved me too. Other than my children and Rose, I had never really truly loved someone before like that.

Despite my own blooming happiness, I was still jealous of Rose, as hard as that was to admit. She had Joe and an exciting new life and she was happy, truly happy. I was thrilled for her, but she was moving at light-speed and leaving me behind.

Still, it was hard to admit to myself that part of me was a tiny bit happy when Joe broke up with Rose. I figured we could go back to the way things had been, only it would be even better since Momma was gone. Of course, it didn’t work out that way. And what was worse, I found out that Joe’s father had photos of me and Brody coming out of a motel room. Dated from last spring.

Brody had left his wife by then, but he was worried about the political fallout, so he went back to her, as miserable as he was about it. And I decided perhaps this was God’s way of telling me to go back to my husband, as miserable as the thought made me.

And I tried, God knows I tried to salvage our marriage with counseling, but all it took was one phone call from Brody— “God, I miss you, Violet,” he’d breathed into the phone. “I lie awake at night thinking about you naked in my arms...”—and I was right back where I started, meeting him in cheap motels.

The nursery was going well by that point. All except for the fact that I’d overextended the business without telling Rose a blessed thing about it. But the loan manager at the Henryetta Bank told me not to worry, and in fact encouraged me to build the business and make a balloon payment after the Holiday Open House I was planning. But then Mr. Sullivan turned up dead and the bank manager suspected him of embezzlement. So not only were we behind on the three payments to the bank, but we were under risk of foreclosure if we didn’t pay what we owed by the Friday after Thanksgiving.

I hated to think it, but it was Rose’s fault we were in such dire straits. All she had to do was ask Mason to help her out with the money to get us caught up. He was a lawyer, for heaven’s sake. He could more than afford to help her, but she refused to even ask. So I was at risk of losing everything—my nursery, Brody, and possibly my kids—all because of Rose’s love life and her stubborn pride.

But then Joe moved back to Henryetta and was living next door to me now that I’d lost the house I loved and moved back into Momma’s house. And that’s when I realized the answer to our prayers.

Joe.

I knew that Joe would help Rose in a heartbeat. He’d put nearly as much work into getting the nursery going as Rose and I had. And he was desperate to get Rose back. He’d risked his life to save her from Daniel Crocker when they weren’t even together. Loaning us several thousand dollars to help us catch up on our loan payments and finance a huge Christmas tree order that couldn’t be cancelled would be nothing for Joe Simmons, son of J.R. Simmons, the most powerful man in southern Arkansas.

It wasn’t hard to bring it up. Ashley and Mikey loved Joe and he seemed lonely and liked spending time with them, so he didn’t put up a protest when I asked him to watch them so I could sneak away to meet Brody. All it took was one little “slip” that the nursery was having problems, and Joe leaped at the chance to help. Especially since he was wound up tighter than a drum over the fact Rose had been involved in the bank robbery that had caused all our troubles. He was desperate to help her, especially since he not only didn’t trust Mason to do so, but he thought Mason had an agenda of his own to hurt Rose.

And when I compared the two men, I had to admit that I preferred her with Joe. There was no way a man like Mason Deveraux would stick around in Fenton County for long, but Joe was bound and determined to stay. He was the easy choice.

So we made a pact. He’d help us with the nursery—only he wanted to pay off the loan in its entirety and funnel more money into the expansion—and in turn, I’d help him get Rose back.

That was the plan.

But when Rose insinuated that there was no way Joe could be interested in
me
, like I was some second-choice loser, it filled me with rage. Why
wouldn’t
Joe be interested in me?

So while my original plan was to make Rose a teensy bit jealous so she’d see how much she wanted Joe back, I changed course. I wanted to make her jealous of me instead. Make her think that I had what she wanted, even if she was too stupid to realize it.

While Joe had agreed to go to Jasper’s with me so she’d see us together, hoping it would arouse her curiosity if nothing else, he’d been more reluctant to accept my invitation to church. But he quickly caved when Ashley asked him—all I had to do was make a throwaway comment to her about how nice it would be if Uncle Joe came to church with us.

I’d spent most of my life manipulating people to help Rose. Why stop now?

I knew Rose would initially be upset that Joe was a partial owner of the business. I also knew she’d cool down and realize it was for the best. And with Joe a part of her everyday life, she’d soon realize that he was the man she wanted, not Mason Deveraux, the assistant district attorney who spent most of his time in his office. Mason didn’t deserve her. If he really loved her, he’d spend more time with her, just like Joe wanted to do.

But it all went so wrong. Rose was angrier than I expected she be, and then that witch Hilary showed up claiming she was pregnant. I suspected she was lying until she told Joe she’d set up an ultrasound. She might really be pregnant, but I was certain she was carrying someone else’s baby…and I was determined to prove it. But I had my work cut out for me since I hadn’t handled any of it well. Instead of encouraging Rose to stay with Joe—since the more time she spent with him the sooner she’d come to her senses—I let my jealousy and spite get in the way of my master plan.

The doorbell rang and I answered the front door, not surprised to see Rose on the porch, her eyes lit up with anger. I had to admit, I liked this new Rose, this girl with more backbone. If only she’d use it for her own good instead of to her detriment. But there was plenty of time to fix that too.

She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “Violet, we need to talk.”

I tried to hide my smile. “Yes, Rose. We do.”

Part Two

Chapter Five

Rose

My temper had dulled after talking to Neely Kate, but a deeper anger remained. Violet had spent the better part of my adult life manipulating me, only I’d been too blind to see it. This time, she’d gone too far.

I stood on the front porch of the home where I’d spent most my life, feeling like I didn’t belong. But Violet didn’t either. I cast a glance over to Joe’s house and wondered if it would be best if we found her another place to live, for more reasons than one. But then I reminded myself that I was here for a different reason.

I knocked on the front door, preparing myself for a fight. My sister opened the door and I blurted out, “Violet, we need to talk.”

She watched me for a second, and I could have sworn I saw pride in her eyes before she said, “Yes, Rose. We do.” She stood back and I walked into the house, once again amazed at how Violet could make the house look so good. But then, I suspected Violet could make a swine look good with a little silk and some ribbon. All the decorations she had put up for the open house had transformed our nursery into a beautiful holiday wonderland until Brody’s wife trashed it.

“Aunt Rose!” Ashley shouted, launching herself at me.

I dropped to my knees and gave her a big hug. “Ashley, I’ve missed you.”

“You saw me yesterday,” she laughed.

“But that was
yesterday
.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek and stood. “I hadn’t thought about the kids being home. Maybe we should do this another time.”

“No,” Violet said, “we need to do this now.” She looked down at my niece. “Ash, Mommy and Aunt Rose have to talk about important grownup stuff. Since Mikey is taking a nap, why don’t you go watch a movie on Mommy’s TV? Do you need help?”

Ashley scowled her disgust. “No. I’m not a baby.” She walked into the bedroom Violet and I had once shared. It surprised me that Vi hadn’t chosen Momma’s old bedroom for herself, since it was slightly larger, but I had chosen to stay in the same room after Momma’s death. It felt like the only safe place in the house. Maybe it was the same way for Violet.

“Shut the door,” Violet called after her, then added, “quietly so you don’t wake Mikey.”

I heard the little girl grumble before the door closed. “She reminds me so much of you when you were little,” I said, becoming nostalgic, my eyes still on the bedroom door. “So strong and independent. I swear, we could have run away from home together when you were her age and we probably would have survived just fine.”

“That’s funny,” Violet said, sounding just as wistful as I felt. “She reminds me so much of you.”

“I miss you.” My voice broke. “What happened to us?”

Her eyes turned glassy, but she didn’t answer.

But I wasn’t here for a trip down memory lane. I suspected it was too late for that. “You went too far, Violet. You had no right to ask Joe behind my back to help us with the business.” My words lacked the harsh bite of anger. Even I could hear my resignation.

She motioned to the sofa. “Can we sit down? Let me tell you my side of it.”

I took a seat on the sofa while she sank into the cushions next to me.

“Rose, you have to know that that nursery is my heart and soul. I lost my marriage and I lost you. Besides Ashley and Mikey, it’s all I have left.”

“Violet, that’s not true.”

Her eyebrows rose and she released a bitter laugh. “Isn’t it?” She shook her head. “But that’s beside the point. All three of us—you, me, and Joe—nearly killed ourselves to open that business. Can you deny that Joe did more than his fair share?”

“No…” I admitted. “But that still doesn’t make what you two did right.” I took a deep breath. “You risked my money, Violet.
My money
. You should have consulted me.”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“I’m not a child. You can’t continue to treat me like one.”

“I know you’re not a child. That wasn’t how I intended it. But you’ve been dealing with your breakup with Joe, then Daniel Crocker tracking you down… and Mason.”

Something in the way she said his name caught my attention. “What about Mason?”

“The way Mason attacked Joe the other night scared me, Rose.” She paused, then looked into my face, her eyes full of worry. “I’ve heard rumors and I’m worried about you.”

“What rumors?”

Her mouth twisted. “I’ve said too much.”

Had the truth of Mason’s situation in Little Rock gotten out? “
What rumors?
”

“Just that he has a terrible temper.” She grimaced. “A couple of days ago I noticed the bruise on your arm.” She took my hand. “Is Mason hurting you, Rose?”

I jerked away from her, horrified. “No! Mason loves me. He would never hurt me.”

“Then how did you get the bruise on your arm?”

There was no way I was going to admit that Mason had grabbed my arm during a nightmare about beating up his sister’s killer. “It doesn’t matter how I got it. That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because you’ve sabotaged our business.”

“Sabotaged?” Her voice rose, then she scowled and looked down the hall to see if she’d roused the kids. “I haven’t sabotaged anything,” she said in a hushed voice. “I freely admit that I was somewhat irresponsible with the finances—”

“
Somewhat?”

“—but I meant well, Rose. You have to know that.”

“Whether you meant well is beside the point, Violet. We nearly lost our business.”

Her face lit up. “But we didn’t! See? It all worked out!” She gave me a tiny frown. “Even if Mason refused to help.”

“Mason didn’t refuse to help. When I finally told him about the situation, he offered.”

“
And you turned him down?
Who’s the irresponsible one now, Rose?” She shook her head. “Again with your stupid pride.”

“I was going to let him help,” I answered, trying not to sound defensive. “But he would have needed to take the money out of his 401K and it wouldn’t have gotten here in time.”

“Why couldn’t he just write you a check?”

“Most people don’t have five or six thousand dollars just lying around.” I shouldn’t have admitted Mason didn’t have the money, but I couldn’t bear to hear her accuse Mason of not wanting to help. Or of me passively allowing our business to die.

“He’s an attorney, Rose. What’s he doin’ with his money?”