Sloane chuckled. “That’s okay. Your mother’s assuming a few things. The first is that I’m interested in you.” She raised one finger in the air. “The second is that even if I were interested, that I’d need her approval.” A second finger went up. “She’s right on the last one. Any woman who is interested in a man should make nice with his mother.”
“She’s a smart woman,” Raina said, enjoying the girl’s forthrightness.
“It’s just that in this case, we’re simply friends, Mrs. Chandler.” Sloane put a hand on Raina’s arm. “But I’d still like your approval.”
She tilted her head to the side, waiting for a reply, and with Sloane’s chin at an angle, Raina felt that sense of familiarity again. “You have my approval. In spades.”
Pink stained Sloane’s cheeks, while Chase’s gaze zeroed in and didn’t let go. Oh, Raina liked this girl. She was exquisite and her son was obviously enthralled. Raina didn’t buy for a minute that Sloane didn’t reciprocate that interest. She was just being coy, completely appropriate so early in the game.
If Raina was reading the signs right, Sloane and Chase could possibly end up together. If so, the end of Raina’s “heart trouble” was in sight. She’d be able to slip Eric’s engagement ring, now settled in a bank’s safe-deposit box, on her finger, get married, and dance at her own wedding. After she danced at her eldest son’s wedding, of course.
Not that she’d figured out how she’d wrangle her miraculous recuperation, but she’d manage. She’d finessed the marriage of her two youngest sons, and once Chase was settled, managing to bounce back would be a welcome piece of cake. The first two hadn’t quite forgiven her, but they obviously hadn’t yet told Chase. And with Sloane here, Raina would milk the situation for all she could.
“We have to be going now,” Eric said. “Your mother needs to get off her feet.” He squeezed Raina’s hand, silently urging her to go. Eric tended to pull her out of the fray and prevent her from meddling further.
She appreciated his concern and since she was unusually tired, she nodded. “I would like to lie down.”
Chase narrowed his gaze as he stared at her. “Are you okay? You look a little pale, and with your heart problems and all, you shouldn’t be running around town.”
“I’m fine.” She mentally crossed her fingers. Not even the mild pain she’d experienced recently eased her guilt over lying. The charade was awful, but she couldn’t deny it made her boys soften toward women and the idea of marriage. Even if it was an imperceptible softening at first, in the end, it had led her first two sons down the aisle.
Surely Chase had to be next.
Eric glanced at her and his lips turned downward in a frown. “Chase is right. You do look a little wiped out.” He glanced at Chase. “Don’t worry, son. I’ll take care of your mother.”
Chase opened the door to let them through. “I know you will. She couldn’t be in better hands.” He smiled at Eric.
“The way you’re both talking about me, I feel like I’m not even in the room,” Raina grumbled.
“And now you aren’t,” Eric said, pulling her over the threshold and into the outdoors.
“Good-bye, Chase. Nice to meet you, Sloane.”
Raina had but a moment to wave and then Chase shut the door, leaving them on the street. Eric was laughing so hard, Raina thought he’d fall onto the grass. “I’m not amused,” she said, knowing she was pouting like an unhappy child.
“Only because you’re on the outside looking in. Don’t worry. Chase is old enough to take care of himself.” He patted her hand, but she knew he wasn’t placating her, rather trying to alleviate her distress. “Meanwhile, I’d like to take care of you. Are you feeling okay?”
His gaze told her he was truly worried, just as Chase had seemed to be earlier. An odd reaction for a man who knew about her charade, Raina thought. She debated telling him about her recent bouts with shortness of breath and slight pain, but she’d just been checked by his new partner and given a clean bill of health. There was nothing to be concerned about, so why mention it?
She nodded in reply. “I’m fine.” But she’d be even better once she knew Chase was settled and happy. “Sloane is a beautiful girl. That red hair and those curls. I kept thinking she reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t figure out who.” And then realization dawned, the fragments she’d been grasping for falling into place.
“Who?” Eric asked.
“Do you remember Jacqueline Ford from high school?” She and Eric had been born and raised in Yorkshire Falls.
He narrowed his gaze, obviously trying to remember. “Pretty redhead, lots of curls?”
“That’s her,” Raina said excitedly. “She kept to herself because her parents were such snobs, but she and I were very good summer friends. We’d hang out in the tree house in her backyard when she was home from college. It’s still there, on the McKeever property.”
Then one hot summer day, Jacqueline’s family moved with no warning. The house went on the market and no one except servants returned to pack up their belongings. Jacqueline didn’t keep in touch. In fact, she never returned. Her death was town lore, if only because her father was a senator who made news, as was the man she eventually married, Michael Carlisle, who was now running for vice president. Raina had seen clippings of the press conference on the late-night news.
She didn’t recall details of his family, but then she hadn’t been paying much attention.
Not with Eric sitting by her side and nuzzling her neck. She glanced over, not forgetting for a moment how lucky she was to have been given this second chance with a wonderful man.
Jacqueline, whose life had been cut short, hadn’t been given that kind of opportunity.
And Raina hadn’t thought of her old friend in too many years. Not even seeing Michael Carlisle on television had reminded her. Too much time had passed.
But then she’d seen flashes of Jacqueline in Chase’s female guest. Enough to strengthen her hunch. Raina grasped Eric’s hand tighter. “I’d bet anything that Sloane is Jacqueline’s daughter. In fact, I’m going inside to—”
“No, you are not.” Eric rarely took a stand, but his dark eyes flashed determination. If that, along with his stern voice, wasn’t enough to halt her, his firm grip on her hand was.