5. Susannah

T wenty-four hours after her run-in with Ivy Button, Susannah was still a wreck. Somehow, she'd managed to hide it from Rex, but only because he'd been wrapped up in doing a Wingate Properties deal with Chase.

When he was home, she pretended to be too busy to talk. So she spent hours in the tiny office space she'd set up in the smaller guest room, pretending to be consumed with the business of running Wingate House as a wedding venue.

She was consumed, all right.

With grief and fear and worry. But not doubt. Not for one split second did she doubt her husband. That woman—and possibly Doreen—had lied about him. Rex Wingate was not capable of hurting someone like that, period, full stop.

Her faith in him did not, however, erase the echo of the ugly, unthinkable words.

It wasn't enough to rape a poor lovestruck woman who had the IQ of a dust mop—Rex got her pregnant, too!

Absolutely wretched slander, that's what that was. The only person who knew the truth, Doreen, had been dead for more than a year. How could Rex possibly defend himself from such awful allegations?

This would wreck him. Goodness, it could implode their family, their businesses, their lives. And it could bring on a heart attack or seizure or…another stroke.

She couldn't let herself go there.

But what if Ivy Button really did have some kind of contract or claim on the property? True or false, it gave her the power and the upper hand. Worst-case scenario? They could lose the glorious house that had been in their family for more than one hundred years.

Best case? There wasn't one except for Ivy Button to disappear into the shadows as quickly as she'd arrived.

Susannah's first instinct had been to run to the problem-solver of the family, Raina. But one look at Raina and Tori, and she realized that she simply couldn't dump this in the laps of any of her daughters.

She couldn't bear to plant that dark and despicable seed, giving them a mental image that would physically hurt no matter how much they'd know it was a lie.

Especially when everyone was finally so happy! Every single one of her daughters was in a solid, steady, stable place in their lives, all of them living right here on Amelia Island.

And one of the biggest reasons for their happiness? Rex had survived a stroke well over a year ago, reminding all of them just how much they adored their loving father.

Madeline, the oldest, had recently married for the first time at fifty, and spent every day on a cloud with the only man she'd ever loved. Tori and Raina were both about to exchange vows with wonderful men—and on the same day! Rose was blooming, as always, in a loving marriage with four delightful kids.

And the youngest three, Sadie, Grace, and Chloe, were all at lovely new places in their lives. Chloe had launched her animal rescue—of course, with the help of her father—and Sadie had opened Charmed by Chocolate.

Moreover, both of them were on the precipice of falling in love with terrific guys.

And Grace! Married to a man of great faith, and she finally had her darling daughter in a special program to address her autism.

The last word put another hitch in Susannah's heart. Doreen had died suddenly on the heels of Nikki Lou's diagnosis and, at the time, Susannah and Grace talked about the possibility that Doreen had suffered from the same disorder.

The older woman's lack of social skills, her inability to have emotional connections, her outbursts and sometimes inexplicable behavior…all of it made them realize they'd been wrong in calling her "Dor-mean." They should have recognized the signs that she was somewhere on the spectrum of autism.

Did Rex have any inkling of that on the day they—

"Please don't tell me this Wingate House business has you that miserable."

She spun around at the sound of her husband's voice, stunned, yanked from her thoughts, and surely looking as guilty as she did miserable.

"Oh, hello. I'm sorry—just thinking."

"And hard," Rex said. "Anything I can help with?"

Yes, she thought. All she had to do was tell him, and he'd start the process of fixing this problem. But how would it feel to face such an unfair accusation? It could…kill him.

And that wasn't hyperbole.

"Suze?" He came into the room, searching her face. As soon as he did, the tiny gray cat sleeping between two oversized pillows on the daybed made a happy noise and stretched, her eyes on Rex. Susannah may have rescued Cora and her kittens from the inn's attic, but this cat loved Rex more than anyone else.

She didn't answer as he sat on the edge of the comforter, stroking Cora's head, but looking at Susannah.

"This is more than scheduling problems at your wedding mecca," he observed.

"Yeah, no. I just…" She had no idea what to say.

Maybe if she got him to talk about it. Maybe if they circled the subject of Doreen Parrish, she'd find out what happened, get a clue as to how to defend him. Could she do that?

"What are you working on?" he asked, absently pressing the heel of his free hand against his chest as he looked over her shoulder at the darkened computer screen and the empty desk surface under it.

"I'm just…thinking."

"About the double wedding?" He shook his head with a wry smile. "I had a feeling nothing about that would be easy, but the girls have it in their heads now. Don't tell me, Tori wants to cater it and Raina wants to make all the decisions."

"No, they…" She fisted her hands and said a silent prayer for help before asking her next question. "Rex, do you ever think about Doreen Parrish?"

He inched back, his dark brows drawing together. "Not too often. Why?"

"Because I…I came across something that made me think of her and I, um, wondered."

"If it has sentimental value, I suppose you could give it to Blake," he said. "He's asked me a few questions, knowing that she was his biological grandmother. I've tried to paint her in a not-too-negative light, but, hey, there was a reason the girls called her Dor-mean."

She flinched at that.

"Which I suppose is deeply unkind," he added, reading her reaction. "What brought that on?"

"I guess I've been thinking about…you and her. You know, you had a…a thing? What would you call it?"

He didn't answer right away, then said, "I'd call it a mistake. Well, ultimately, it gave us Blake, and I love him as much as any of my grandchildren, but that…" He shook his head. "That encounter was not my finest moment. I should have said no, and it couldn't have been easy for her to have a kid and give him up for adoption."

"And you absolutely didn't know?" she pressed. "She never told you she was pregnant?"

He tipped his head, a frown forming. "You know that, Suze. I had no idea until my biological son showed up and needed money."

"Then you talked to her, right?"

"Of course. Like I told you, I was furious she'd never told me about Bradley, but she just dismissed me and looked past me."

"But you did pay Brad," she said, wondering if there was something in that exchange that could prove Rex's innocence.

"I helped a man who was losing his family farm, but that's all he wanted. No relationship." Rex searched her face, clearly flummoxed by the conversation. "Why, Suze? What was it you found?"

"Nothing, really." How could she tell him… it was Ivy Button and she found me. She took a deep breath, and…couldn't do it. "Did your father know what happened?"

"From what I've been able to piece together, she and my dad had an…arrangement that gave her a secure job for life. Did he know she had a baby? Maybe. He certainly never told me, but he was a fair man and wanted to help her when she came back."

"So he offered her a lifetime job at the inn," Susannah said, familiar with that version of history. "Nothing more?"

"What else could he offer her?"

She shook her head, dangerously close to the truth. "Is there any…paperwork?" At his look, she added, "Of that arrangement, I mean."

"Oh, no. It was unspoken. As long as he was alive, she had a job, and after he died, well…" He lifted a shoulder. "We didn't have the heart to let her go, and by then you did the heavy lifting on the inn management and she basically cooked breakfast and ticked off housekeepers."

She stared at him, thinking. "You're sure he never wrote anything down to confirm that arrangement?"

"I don't think so. Why?"

Because it would go a long way to keeping Ivy's grubby hands off the Inn . "I don't know," she said instead, purposefully vague. "It feels like a loose end."

"To what?" he asked on a laugh, turning his attention to the cat trying to knead his legs. "All parties involved are long gone and I don't have anything terrible to say about Doreen. She was…a sad case."

"Did you know that when you"—she lifted a brow—"were with her?"

"I knew that I was a dumb kid and she was…determined." He looked down at Cora, petting her small head. "Look, the poor woman's dead and I don't need to besmirch her reputation."

But her niece was about to besmirch Rex's.

"Why didn't you…turn her down?" she asked, shifting a little uncomfortably.

"'Cause I was, what, nineteen? Not the age of, uh, reason when it comes to things like that. When a girl says…" He shook his head and looked up from Cora, agony in his eyes. "Don't make me relive the sins of my past, Suze. It's embarrassing. Are Raina and Chase on their way over with—"

"Can you tell me about what happened?" she asked.

He screwed up his face. "Why?"

"I'm curious."

He grunted and looked skyward, a typical man who didn't want to talk about things like this.

"Suze, it was the late sixties. I know you were only a kid then, but for teenagers and college kids, like I was? It was…free love, no boundaries, and…and…she was dead set on sex. I'm sorry, it's not something I'm proud of, but it happened." He leaned forward, easing the cat to the side to pin his tortured expression on Suze. "Don't judge me for that. Or her, for that matter."

Someone was going to judge him if this got out. All seven of his daughters, a town full of people who loved him, and every client he'd ever had.

And if she told him that, it would break him. Even if it wouldn't, she couldn't bear to see how he'd react—from anger to sorrow to helplessness.

"I'd really like to drop the subject," he said, with nothing but pain and remorse in his voice, a world of pain in his eyes. In fact, he winced, and pressed his chest again.

"Rex." She stood, alarmed. "Is it your heart? A chest pain?"

"No, it's nothing," he insisted. "I don't like talking about this, even with Blake. I'm sorry it happened, and I think I paid the price for one really dumb teenage mistake."

"You have," she said, walking to him and putting her hand on his chest. "Does it hurt?"

He searched her face, agony still making his dark eyes even darker. "What hurts is that I disappointed you. I know, I know. I was young, but it's no excuse. I should have looked at that girl and been the one to say no. I just took advantage of her willingness."

"No, no," she insisted. "You didn't take advantage of her. Don't say that. Don't ever say that. If anything, it was the other way around."

He lifted a shoulder, as if to say the semantics didn't matter. "I'm still not proud of my past, Suze. So let's keep it buried like poor Doreen."

The doorbell rang and ended the conversation for them, and made Cora leap off the daybed and scoot under it.

"That's probably Raina and Chase dropping off the babies," Rex said, standing to leave the room and looking very happy for the distraction.

She nodded, following him to the front door with a sickening sense that this wasn't going to stay buried. Not for very long.