Page 10 of Bryson

"Well, your bones are wrong. I will be leaving. We will talk, Bryson and I, like reasonable adults, and come to some sort of agreement and that's that."

And she meant every word. Shoving the sheets off her, she could not help but remember how he had cradled her in his arms and put her to bed, nor the fact that he had prepared a meal for her. The feel of his strong arms around her had brought back the memories of what it had been like in the past. Shaking the memories off, she rose and rubbed her stomach. At least she didn't feel as if she was going to throw up her stomach lining. She might attempt to have some proper breakfast after all.

******************

Sara-Lee patted the neat chignon at the back of her head nervously, her eyes going to the doorway as she awaited the arrival of the woman who had always had the power to scare her to death. From the conversation on the phone two hours ago while she was dealing with some matters in her office, she presumed that it had to do with Bryson and that it was serious. Sara-Lee knew that the woman of his past was back in town; nothing went on here without it being plastered all over the place. She was also aware that he had never gotten over her. She had hoped that with the passage of time he would come to love her, not with the wild abandon he had for Julianne Merrywood (their love affair had set tongues wagging!). And Sara-Lee had seen them together. She had done everything she had been told to do, tried to behave in a way that would ensure the relationship would lead into something permanent.

Hadn't she moved in as soon as the woman had left town, lending a supportive ear and a shoulder to lean on, offering friendship and such? Not that Bryson had accepted a shoulderand he had certainly never brought up the woman's name. She had tried to get him to talk about the break up and he had curtly shut her down. So, she had stayed away from that topic and made herself available. She had offered and he had taken. Now the woman was back, and Sara-Lee feared that there was going to be a big problem.

She was jarred from her musing when the maître D of the posh tea room hurried forward to guide Barbara McNab towards the table that was situated cozily at the back of the lush flower-filled bower, with palm trees waving in the breeze. Abandoning her light summer jacket to the man, Barbara waited for her chair to be pulled out and took her seat.

"We will have the mint julep and your garden salad." Her green eyes touched on Sara-Lee briefly. "I presume you have not yet ordered?"

"I was waiting for you." Sara-Lee had known to wait for the other woman's arrival. From past experiences, she realized that Barbara McNab expected to always be in charge, even something as trivial as a lunch menu.

"Splendid. That will be all." She dismissed the man and waited until he was out of earshot. "You're looking lovely, my dear."

"Thank you. So do you. That teal blue color is..."

"Now that we've dispensed with the small talk, let's get down to it." Her green eyes bored into Sara-Lee's blue ones. "You've been calling Bryson since last night. Has he called you back?"

Sara-Lee nodded and reached for the glass of water. "He said he had something to discuss with me later."

"That's all he said?"

She nodded again.

"Nothing else?" Barbara prodded.

"No. That's it. Is something wrong?"

"Of course something is wrong," she said sharply. Picking up her own glass of water, she took a fortified sip. "I'm about to impart some news and will have to prevail upon you to keep it to yourself. The only reason I'm discussing this is because of the dire nature."

Sara-Lee stared at her in alarm. "What's the matter?"

Putting her glass down, she waited for the drinks to be served before resuming the conversation. "That woman, as you know, is back in town."

"I'm aware."

"We had an agreement, you and I. You were supposed to make my son fall in love with you and eventually propose. I stressed that as a matter of importance."

"I've tried to..."

"Not hard enough!"

The conversation was halted again as the maître D came forward with their salads. The man stood there as usual as Barbara examined the vegetables to ascertain their fresh crispness, before he was summarily dismissed.

"I've done everything you told me..."

"Which has not been enough." Barbara took a sip of her mint julep and nodded in satisfaction.

"I don't know what you expect..."

"That woman is back in town because she claims she's carrying the heir to the family's fortune!" Barbara hissed.

Sara-Lee recoiled. It was not just the tone of voice, or the bitterness underlying the sentence; it was the words themselves. Julianne Merrywood was pregnant? What did that mean to her and Bryson's relationship? It had not been on the most solid foundation in the first place, but with this, something so significant and life-changing, it meant he was going to go running back to her. Sara-Lee had always been a substitute for the other woman and a poor one at that. She always had the feeling that he made love to her out of a sense of duty, if that was the proper term, and that he had been detached and distant.

"Is it... she went away. She could have been with another man." She was grasping at straws and she realized it.