at all,” Hallie said soothingly.
Looking around, Lola said in sudden worry, “But we’re having a real dinner, right?” She added apologetically, “It’s just that it’s Rodrigo’s first real Thanksgiving—”
“Don’t worry.” Tess’s round face broke into a big smile. “Dinner’s being catered from one of the best restaurants in the city. Well, except for the rolls and pies. Those are being brought by my cousins. Did you hear? They’re running the family bakery now.”
“Your cousins!” Lola was astounded. “But they’re so young!”
“Just a few years younger than we are. Old enough to know what they want in life.” Tess’s smile lifted to a grin. “But obviously still learning the business. They called to say they’re running a little late.”
“But I’m sure Tess didn’t really drag us into the kitchen to talk about pie.” Hallie leaned back against the spotless marble counter, her dark eyes piercing. “What’s going on with you and your new husband, Lola?”
“And how could you have a wedding without us?” Tess looked suddenly hurt. “We should have been bridesmaids. Just like you were for us.”
Lola’s first instinct was to refuse to explain, to make an excuse, to grab her babbling baby out of Tess’s arms and wander into the front room to join the men watching football.
But suddenly, her heart was in her throat. Tears lifted to her eyes.
“Lola?” Hallie said.
“Lola, are you all right?” Tess said.
Her friends looked shocked. They had never seen her vulnerable before. Lola had always prided herself on being the strong one. She was the bossy one giving them advice, not the other way around.
“I’m sorry,” Lola whispered, wiping her eyes. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Do you want a cupcake?” asked Tess anxiously.
“A glass of wine?” asked Hallie.
It was so typical, Lola unwillingly laughed through her tears.
Then, with an intake of breath, she told them everything.
Her poverty and helplessness as a child, seeing her mother work herself to death, seeing her stepfather injured, disabled and finally sent to prison for trying to sell drugs. How Lola had felt, being responsible for her baby sisters when she was still a child herself. How, after their mother’s untimely death, the girls had been dragged away from her, their screams still ringing in her ears. How she’d felt at eighteen, seeing them happy in another family, having forgotten her completely.
“I decided that money was the only thing that mattered,” she whispered. She looked down. “I did some things I’m not proud of.”
Hallie patted her shoulder. “We all have. It’s part of being human.”
“Oh, Lola.” Tess looked heartbroken. “I never imagined. You always seemed so tough.”
“Like nothing could hurt you,” said Hallie.
Lola choked out a laugh, then wiped her eyes. “I pushed you guys so hard, while I was a coward in my own life.”
“No, never,” Tess said loyally.
“You helped us,” Hallie said.
“So now let us help you,” the redhead said. “Do you love him?”
“No, I—” But Lola’s words caught in her throat. Memories flooded through her of Rodrigo tenderly taking care of their baby. Of him caring for her. Of all their days talking, and the hot nights when he’d made love to her again and again. Looking at her friends, she couldn’t lie to them.
With a shuddering breath, she whispered, “I don’t know.”
Hallie and Tess looked at each other.
“You don’t know?” Hallie said gently.
“I can’t love him.” Lola wiped her eyes. “I did once, last year, before I knew I was pregnant. But when I told him my feelings, he found an excuse to break up with me, and practically tossed me out of California. He doesn’t believe in love. He thinks it only brings pain.” She hesitated, then said quietly, “He was engaged three times before he met me.”
Idealistic Tess looked shocked. “Three times?”
“And they all cheated on him before the wedding.”
“All of them?” Hallie said faintly.
“I’m sorry I didn’t invite you to the wedding. But as soon as Rodrigo found out about the baby, he insisted we get married at once. A judge was waiting at his loft to marry us right after the paternity test. With his housekeeper and bodyguard as witnesses.”
“You didn’t even get to plan your own wedding?” Tess said indignantly.
Lola looked down.
“It wasn’t so bad,” she said in a small voice.
“And whoever heard of a man engaged so many times?” Hallie said wonderingly.
“It happens,” Lola said, a hard edge coming into her voice. She felt suddenly protective of him.
Tess’s plump face was bewildered. “And all three women cheated on him before the wedding?”
Lola took a deep breath, wondering if she should tell them the worst, the fear she could barely even admit to herself—that he’d arranged those betrayals himself, either to test their loyalty or have an excuse to end the relationships.
He’s not like that, Lola told herself desperately. He wouldn’t do something so underhanded.
The house phone rang on the kitchen counter. Tess picked it up. “Hello?” Her face lit up. “Yes, of course. Send them all up!” Hanging up, she said happily, “That was the doorman. My cousins are here, and so are the caterers!” Moving to the wide, open doorway, she called, “Boys! The food’s here!”
There was a loud yell of glee, and the trampling of heavy male feet.
“Will you be all right, Lola?”
Hallie’s voice was quiet behind her. Lola turned to see the brunette’s worried eyes.
With a deep breath, she lifted her chin. “Don’t worry about me. I’m just being silly.” Wiping the last of the tears from her eyes, she took Jett back into her arms with a smile. “Rodrigo and I are happy. We have a baby together. We’re married. Friends.” She gave a crooked smile. “And the sex is fantastic.”
Gentle, romantic Tess looked at her. “But without love, how can it last?”
Don’t get comfortable, Ulrika Lund had said. You won’t be with him for long. He’ll see to that.
As Lola looked between the worried faces of her best friends, a trickle of fear went down her spine.
I have to understand what happened, she thought suddenly. Had her husband really been behind all those betrayals and broken engagements? Or was it just a wild coincidence?
She’d spoken to his first two fiancées, but not the third, Elise Patel, a world-famous composer who now lived in Los Angeles. Perhaps her story would turn out to be completely different.
Lola’s eyes narrowed. One way or the other, she would find out the truth.
IT WAS STRANGE, Rodrigo thought, to have one’s first Thanksgiving at the age of thirty-seven. But no stranger than the rest of it, he supposed.
He looked down the long table,