He went to kiss her then stopped to hover just above her lips. “So you’re okay about Brenda?”
“Yes, I am.”
And she was.
He kissed her then, a long lingering kiss that was meant to reassure her.
And it did.
Until she answered the phone an hour later and a woman asked to speak to Nick.
“He’s not here at the moment,” Sasha said, her fingers tensing around the handset. “Do you want to leave a message?”
“Tell him it’s Brenda.” The woman’s pause was definitely for effect. “I’m returning his call.”
Sasha held on to her composure. “His call?”
“Nick called me a little while ago and said to call him back. I thought it was from this number. This is his parents’ old number, right?”
Her words implied that she knew his parents’ number very well.
Sasha drew herself up straighter. “Yes, this was Cesare and Isabel’s house. It’s mine and Nick’s now. I’ll pass on the message that you called.”
Her hands were shaking as she hung up the phone and for a moment she felt a silly sense of triumph. Then it hit her.
Nick had called Brenda.
To meet with her?
Or to tell her to leave him alone?
All at once Sasha’s doubts rose again like weeds in a garden. She tried to mentally cut them off at the roots but they went too deep.
Was Nick lying?
She’d believed him about not being in love with Brenda, but was she being a fool to be so accepting? Had she wanted to believe him because of her love for him? Had it blinded her to his faults? Made her weak to his lies?
No, she didn’t want to believe any of that, but the scenario was all too familiar. Memories of her parents’ marriage were always at the back of her mind, her father always so glib at assuring her mother he was working when he was out with his latest girlfriend. Her mother always accepting his assurances. Sasha was certain her mother hadn’t always believed him, but she’d forgiven him anyway.
Was this the same situation between her and Nick?
Was she like her mother?
And was Nick more like her father than she wanted to admit?
All at once she had the urge to go see her parents. Perhaps by merely being around them she’d find she was just being silly.
An hour later her mother’s eyes lit up with surprise when she opened the door. “Darling, what are you doing here?” she said, giving her daughter a kiss. “And where’s Nick?”
“He had to go see Cesare about work,” Sasha said, stepping inside.
“Men! Your father’s not here either. He went into the office to fix something or other. On a Sunday, too!”
Sasha turned to hide her face so that her mother couldn’t read the suspicion in her eyes. Was that just an excuse? Was her father out with his latest mistress?
“Anyway,” Sally said. “It’s just us girls today. We can catch up over coffee.”
“That would be nice, Mum,” Sasha said, regretting having come now. Instead of doubting her suspicions about Nick, this visit was only reinforcing that she could never be like her mother and so accepting of her husband’s lies.
And if she couldn’t trust Nick, then how could she stay married to him?
They chatted over coffee on the patio until Sasha’s cell phone rang. It was one of the contractors handling the renovations. “Let me just get a pen and paper,” she said, looking around for her handbag, remembering she’d left it on the kitchen table.
Sally waved her toward the study.
Sasha nodded and entered by the French doors, hurrying over to her father’s desk. By the time she ended the call, she had the feeling this particular contractor was going to be more trouble than he was worth.
She sighed as she turned to leave and knocked into the bookcase, causing a large vase to fall on the carpet and break.
“Oh no,” she muttered, crouching down to pick up the pieces. She hoped it wasn’t irreplaceable.
Suddenly she realized there was some rolled up paper in the vase that had now spilled out. She picked it up. Her father wouldn’t be pleased to have his things all over the place, though why he would tuck them in a vase like this—
A shiver of apprehension slid down her spine as the paper unraveled and the name “Valente” caught her eye. She didn’t mean to pry but the words “correct figures” had been written in pencil at the top of the paper.
Then she noticed another sheet of paper underneath it, looking like a duplicate of the top sheet except that the numbers were different.
She blinked, then reread them. Was she seeing what she thought she was seeing?
She swallowed hard. Oh God. It hadn’t been enough for her father that she had married Nick. Porter had falsified the numbers to win the contract by undercutting the other tenders by one hundred thousand dollars. No wonder these papers were hidden away.
God, did Nick know? Was that why they’d delayed signing the contract a few weeks ago? She shook her head. No, if Nick knew he’d have done something about it.
Definitely.
“What are you doing with those?” her mother suddenly said in an accusing tone.
Sasha’s head shot up, trepidation filling her. “You know, don’t you?”
Sally rushed toward her and snatched the papers to her breast. “Know what?”
“That Dad falsified the numbers to win that latest contract.”
“Don’t be silly.”
“Mum, I saw the paperwork. It’s there in black and white.”
Her mother flushed, then paled. “Darling, you can’t say anything. Promise me you won’t.”
Sasha gasped. “I can’t make a promise like that. What Dad did isn’t only morally wrong, it’s illegal.”
Sally’s face screwed up. “Yes, and he could go to jail. Oh dear God.”
“Maybe he should have thought of that.”
She grabbed Sasha’s arm in desperation. “Darling, you can’t do this to your father. He can’t go to jail.” She began to sob. “Besides, the deal’s already—” another sob “—signed and delivered and—” sniff “—no one’s ever going to know. Not unless you tell them.”
“I can’t not say anything, Mum.”
“He’s your father.”
“Yes, and I’m married to a Valente.”