Society Wives: Secret Lives: The Rags-To-Riches Wife

“Sure, go ahead,” Dan told him. “But, Jack, I hope you won’t be too quick to rule out the senate race. With Carlton’s group behind you, you’d have a good shot at claiming that seat. And we could certainly use someone like you on Capitol Hill.”

“I appreciate that, Dan. But right now, my focus is on my new wife and our family,” he explained. While he hadn’t ruled out a run for office, after speaking with his father, he wasn’t sure he wanted to put Lily through the ordeal. He had absolutely no qualms or reservations about Lily’s unplanned pregnancy and their marriage. Nor did he feel anything but pride for where she came from and what she had made of herself. He knew from her comments that her lack of family and knowledge about her heritage bothered her.

“I understand. I shouldn’t have even bothered you about this on your wedding day. We’ll talk about it in a week or two. And congratulations again on your marriage.”

“Thanks,” Jack said, and, after shaking Dan’s hand, he headed across the patio to where Lily was standing with his mother and two women he recognized as part of her bridge group.

“Jack, darling,” his mother said and beamed as he joined them. “You remember Louise and Pamela from my bridge group, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course. Good afternoon, ladies,” he said with a bow of his head.

“I was just telling your mother what a beautiful bride you have,” the ash-blond Pamela told him.

“Thank you. I happen to think she’s beautiful, too,” Jack said and he stared directly at Lily. He didn’t miss the rush of color to her cheeks. “If you ladies don’t mind, I’m going to steal my wife away for a few minutes.”

He reached for Lily’s hand and as he was hustling her away, he spied his great-aunt Olivia Cartwright heading toward them. “Aunt Olivia at two o’clock. Come on,” he said and led her out to the center of the floor.

“Jack, what are you doing?” she asked as he took her in his arms and spun her around the stone patio floor in time to the music.

“Dancing with my wife.”

“But why?”

“Because my great-aunt Olivia considers herself the authority on everything from business to marriage to giving birth. Trust me, you don’t want her to start offering us advice.”

“Oh,” she said. “Did you say she was your great-aunt?”

“Yes. My grandmother’s older sister.” Grateful that the band was playing a slow tune, he held Lily close. It reminded him of the night at the ball when he’d held her in his arms for the first time. Just as on that night she felt soft and silky and as elusive as moonlight. He breathed in her scent, the hint of roses and sunshine and some mysterious scent that was hers alone. She fitted him perfectly and he was keenly aware of the weight of her breasts against his chest, the way her dress swished against his pant legs as they moved their feet in harmony. He was also aware of the roundness of her abdomen pressing against him.

“You have a lot of relatives,” she said, her breath whispering against his ear and causing that rapid beat in his pulse again. “What’s it like being a part of a big family?”

“Annoying,” he told her and tried to shake off his sexual feelings. The last thing Lily needed right now was for him to start making marital demands on her. Besides the fact that she was pregnant, she had had her entire life turned upside down. Now that she was a Cartwright her life would never be the same again. Right or wrong, the name Cartwright meant money and power. And while giving his name to her and their child would provide security and protection, it would also subject her to the curiosity, rumors and often the envy of others. Some of it had already started. He’d had a flurry of calls from friends, business acquaintances, members of the country club and even former girlfriends when the news had broken of his impending marriage. He didn’t doubt that the gossip mill was working overtime with the scandal of Lily’s pregnancy and their marriage. Of course, without Bunny Baldwin and her Social Diary to feed the frenzy, it might lose steam quickly. At least he hoped it would. Until then, he intended to shield Lily from it as much as he could.

Easing back, she looked at him. “I’d have thought it would be wonderful to have so many people related to you. You’d never be alone. There would always be someone to share the holidays with, to spend special moments with.”

He knew that Lily had spent most of her holidays alone, the outsider watching foster families celebrating. There was a part of him that ached for the lonely girl she must have been. He couldn’t go back and wipe away those unhappy memories, but he promised himself that he would make happy memories for her in the future. “I guess it is pretty nice most of the time—except at times like today when those well-meaning family members, like my mother, insist on getting in your business and hosting receptions like this one so that she can show us off.”

“It’s not that bad,” she told him.

“Shh. Don’t let her hear you say that or she’ll never let us out of here.” Lily smiled and it was the first real smile he’d seen from her all afternoon. Drawing her close, he moved her into a slow spin.

“We’re being watched,” she told him.

“Ignore them,” he said, not wanting to allow anyone to intrude upon the moment. It was the first time she’d come close to relaxing with him since they’d agreed to get married.

“That might be kind of hard to do. Your aunt Olivia is waving a napkin at us. I think she wants us to come over to her.”

“She’s our aunt Olivia now,” he informed her. He had indeed seen Aunt Olivia motioning them over. She’d been hard to miss since she was the only eighty-five-year-old woman with Lucille Ball red hair holding a glass of bourbon in one hand and a cane in the other. “You do realize that now that you’re a Cartwright, all these annoyingly wonderful relatives are yours now, too—including Aunt Olivia.”

“Um, Jack. I think our aunt Olivia is getting impatient.”

Jack glanced over to where his great-aunt had just slapped her glass down on a table and was insisting the young waiter help her to her feet. “We’d better go see what she wants.”

What she wanted was to give them both a lecture on what was necessary to make a marriage work. Since Aunt Olivia’s own marriage had spanned sixty years until the death of Uncle Charlie, she considered herself an authority on the subject. She’d lectured them on the importance of being good to one another, of respecting one another and of sharing the responsibility for raising the kids. She’d told them not to make the mistake of taking each other for granted. She also told them that they needed to make time for one another and to listen to what the other one had to say.

“You young people are big on the term communication. Well, communication is one of the keys to a good marriage. And that communication needs to start in the bedroom,” Aunt Olivia told them. She pointed her cane at him. “You keep your wife happy in the bedroom and the rest will take care of itself.”

Lily turned beet-red.

Jack coughed. “Thanks, Aunt Olivia, but I don’t think—“

“And you,” she said, turning her focus on Lily. “You need to remember that men are like little boys. Every one of them wants to be a super hero between the sheets. If you spend all of your time and energy on the children or the house, you’ll be too tired to let them do their super-hero act. Their fragile egos can’t handle it. So you make sure you save some of yourself for your man,” she continued. “Even if it means ordering takeout food or hiring a sitter for the kids, do it. Because when you close that bedroom door, you need to be a woman first. Understand?”

“Um, yes, ma’am,” Lily said, but Jack noted she averted her eyes.

“There’s no need for either of you to be embarrassed. From where I stand, it looks to me like you’re not having any troubles in the bedroom now. All I’m saying is make sure you keep it that way. Good sex is one of the most important things in a marriage. Why do you think Uncle Charlie and I made it for more than sixty years? It’s because we had a good sex life up until the day he died.”

Which was a lot more than he wanted to know. “Thanks, Aunt Olivia. We appreciate the advice.”

“Yes, thank you,” Lily said.

“Just doing my duty,” Aunt Olivia told them.

And before she started doling out any more advice on sex, Jack said, “You’ll need to excuse us, Aunt Olivia. It looks like Mother needs us to cut the cake.” Taking Lily by the arm, he hustled her across the room. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to get out of this place. What do you say we cut the cake and then head for home?”

“It sounds good to me.”

Lily squirmed in the seat of Jack’s car. Ever since she’d hit the fourth month of her pregnancy, trips to the restroom were like clockwork. They came at two-hour intervals without fail. She’d gotten used to it for the most part and simply made sure she was in close proximity to a bathroom when the urge hit. But she had been so anxious to leave the reception that she hadn’t paid attention to her inner clock or visited the restroom before leaving. As a result, she was well past schedule for a bathroom break and there didn’t seem to be a service station anywhere in sight. She shifted in her seat again and wondered what Jack’s reaction would be to his new bride ruining the leather upholstery in his shiny Mercedes. She didn’t want to find out. “Is it much farther?” she asked him.

“About five minutes,” he told her.

Lily bit off a groan and squirmed in her seat.

He glanced across the seat at her. “Is everything okay?” he asked, a worried note in his voice. “Is it the baby?”

“No, everything is not okay, and yes, it’s the baby,” she confessed and would have laughed at his panicked expression, but knew that even a chuckle right now would result in wet leather seats. “Our little angel is pushing on my bladder and I really, really need a bathroom. So could you please hurry?”

Jack hurried and ten minutes later when she left the bathroom, she felt almost normal again. Or as normal as she could under the circumstances. She had made such a mad dash for the bathroom when they’d arrived that she had scarcely noticed the two-story Colonial and just how lovely it was. After seeing his parents’ home, she had worried that Jack, too, lived in a sprawling mansion, and she had wondered how she would feel living in such a big place. But she needn’t have worried, because while Jack’s house was certainly enormous compared to her efficiency apartment, she didn’t find it intimidating.

“I appreciate the offer, Mother …”

Lily heard Jack’s deep voice coming from another part of the house and realized he must be on the phone. So she used the time to explore her surroundings. She had raced through the door so quickly, intent on finding the bathroom, that she hadn’t noticed that the front door was made of walnut. Nor had she seen the leaded side-lights on either side of the door. Turning, she noted the large rectangular mirror set in pewter that hung over an antique table. A crystal vase of bright red tulips added a burst of color to the muted tones. The sweeping staircase was a real eye-catcher. She walked across the diamond-patterned marble floor and found herself in the living room. The room was gorgeous. A fireplace with a dramatic mantel was the focal point of the room. She could easily imagine a fire burning in the hearth on cold winter days. Floor-to-ceiling windows and built-in bookcases gave the room a welcoming feel. Photographs were scattered about—shots of Jack and his sisters holding skis while they stood in front of a snow-covered slope, shots of his parents on a cruise ship, one of Aunt Olivia standing before a birthday cake covered in candles. She trailed her fingers across the back of one of the couches. The furniture was high-quality and she suspected the chairs alone cost more than all the furniture in her apartment. Yet, it looked comfortable and had a lived-in feel to it. It wasn’t just for show.

The living room led to a bright sunroom with flagstone floors, lattice work, ten-foot ceilings and southern, eastern and western exposures. There were French doors leading to a stone patio off the sunroom. Reversing direction, Lily headed back toward the foyer. This time she stopped at the base of the staircase and glanced up to where she suspected the bedrooms were located. Thoughts of the bedrooms and her and Jack’s sleeping arrangements set off a nervous fluttering in her stomach.

She hadn’t allowed herself to think much beyond the wedding, let alone to the wedding night. She and Jack hadn’t discussed what their sleeping arrangements would be. On the one hand, she knew it was silly for them not to share a bed. They were married and it wasn’t as though they were two strangers who had never shared a bed. They had. They were expecting a baby together—a baby that had been created the old-fashioned way. But when she’d gone to his room that night, she hadn’t realized who he was, that he was Jack Cartwright, a member of Eastwick’s elite and the newly appointed board member of Eastwick Cares. No, he had just been the handsome stranger who had eased the ache in her heart. That night, in his arms, it hadn’t mattered that she’d failed once again in her quest to discover who she was and why she had been left at the church. What had mattered was that he had wanted her and she had wanted him. And, for that one night, she hadn’t felt so alone.

But she had no mask to hide behind now. There was no more pretending she was someone else. She was still Lily. Only now she was pregnant and married to Jack Cartwright, a man who didn’t love her, a man who had married her out of his sense of responsibility because she carried his child. She looked at the rings on her finger, remembered the night Jack had given her his grandmother’s engagement ring and kissed her. She touched her lips, recalling the rush of heat and emotion she’d experienced that night. She’d felt that same rush of feeling when he’d recited his vows and slid the wedding band on her finger. His voice had sounded so strong and true, she could almost believe that he’d meant those words.