Taste of Honey (47 page)

On the porch, the wicker chairs creaked as they settled into them. The hubbub inside was a pleasant hum. Gerry saw that the morning glories planted only weeks before were already climbing up the railing. In no time at all they’d need to be cut back.

“I’m delighted for Claire,” he said. “It looks as if it’s all working out as she’d hoped.”

“It wasn’t just luck.”

“Of course not. You had a hand in it as well.”

Gerry turned to him in surprise. “What did I do?”

“If you hadn’t gone with her to see her mother, this might have had a very different outcome.”

“I didn’t think it through at the time,” she said with a shrug. “I just did what seemed right.”

“Spoken like a mother.” He smiled, and reached to take her hand.

“They sent balloons,” she said. “Do you believe it? With a card that said ‘Best of luck, from Mom and Dad.’ Claire tried not to show it, but I know she was hurt. And you know something? I wish they
had
come. It just seems so … unfinished.”

“Speaking of unfinished.” Aubrey’s fingers tightened. “There’s something you should know.”

Gerry felt her heart constrict. That night at the hospital had been nothing more than chivalry, and now he was growing restless. She could see it in his eyes: the need to move on. And though it was what she wanted—or so she’d been telling herself—it felt like a door about to slam shut in her face.

“I’m all ears.” She tried to sound lighthearted, but it came out like a dropped rock instead.

Aubrey hesitated, a silence filled by the roaring of blood in her ears. Then he said in a soft voice, “I know we promised each other in the beginning that we wouldn’t let it get out of hand. Fuck buddies, I think that was your term for it.” He smiled. “But I meant what I said the other night—I think it’s time we took another look.”

She couldn’t keep from blurting, “What about Isabelle?”

His gaze was clear as he answered, “I won’t make any promises I can’t keep—I couldn’t forget her if I tried—but there’s a difference between cherishing someone’s memory and, as you so quaintly put it, throwing yourself on the pyre.” He paused, his eyes searching her face. “What about you, my dear? Will you stay for the second act?”

Gerry could feel the tight ball that had been her heart unfolding like petals. “I always felt there was something noble in not needing a man. Like I deserved some sort of medal.” Her mouth curved in a rueful smile.

“Would you settle for a ring instead?” Aubrey fished something from his pocket: a small velvet box.

Gerry stared at it, a rash of goose bumps spreading up her arms and neck.

“It’s the reason I was late,” he went on. “I had it sent over by courier from London.” He opened the box, and a perfect emerald-cut diamond caught the light in a dazzling burst that made her gasp. “It was my mother’s. She’d have wanted you to have it.”

“But … shouldn’t it have been Isabelle’s?” Gerry immediately wanted to bite her tongue. What a way to spoil the moment.

But Aubrey’s face was relaxed and his gaze steady. “The truth is, my mother didn’t much like her,” he said with a shrug. “I never quite knew why—maybe they were too much alike—but you, on the other hand, she’d have liked you.” He regarded her tenderly. “Mother had absolutely no sense of humor, but she appreciated it in others.”

“I can’t think of a single clever thing to say right now.” Gerry began to tremble.

“In that case, don’t say anything at all.” Aubrey slipped the ring onto her finger. Not surprisingly, it was a perfect fit.

Gerry held out her hand, turning it this way and that. The ring flashed as if signaling in Morse code. What would its message be? She eyed it for a long moment before giving up and listening to her heart instead. The words came then, spilling from her effortlessly.

“I hate big weddings,” she said.

“My sentiments exactly.”

“There’s always Vegas.”

“Your family would never forgive us.” Family. Oh, God. Did Aubrey have any idea what he was taking on? Her fears vanished at once when he added, “I know a certain young man who’d be delighted to walk you down the aisle.”

“With Andie and Claire as bridesmaids.”

“And Sam as matron of honor.”

“Holding a baby instead of a bouquet.” She laughed.

There, that wasn’t so hard,
she thought. Just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Before you knew it you were there. She squeezed Aubrey’s hand, a sense of peace stealing over her. It wasn’t about a knight riding up on his white charger. She’d rescued herself … and salvaged something important along the way: the courage to love again.

She smiled at Aubrey through her tears. “We should go back in. They’ll wonder what’s keeping us.”

“In a little while,” he said.

For once, she didn’t argue.

A Biography of Eileen Goudge

Eileen Goudge (b. 1950) is one of the nation’s most successful authors of women’s fiction, beginning with the acclaimed six-million-copy bestseller
Garden of Lies
.

Goudge is one of six children, and the joys and strife that come with a large family have informed her fiction, much of which centers on issues of sisterhood and family. At eighteen she quit college to get married, a whirlwind experience that two years later left her divorced, broke, and responsible for her first child. It was then that she started writing in earnest.

On a typewriter borrowed from a neighbor, Goudge began turning out short stories and articles. For years she had limited success—selling work to
McCall’s
,
Reader’s Digest
, and the
San Francisco Chronicle
—but in the early eighties she took a job writing for a new young adult series that would become the phenomenally successful
Sweet Valley High
.

Goudge moved her family from California to New York City, where she spent several years writing young-adult fiction, creating series such as
Seniors
,
Swept Away
, and
Who Killed Peggy Sue?
In 1986 she published her first novel of adult fiction,
Garden of Lies
, inspired by a childhood anxiety that, because she did not resemble her brothers and sisters, she had been secretly adopted—a suspicion so strong that, at twelve, Goudge broke into her father’s lockbox expecting to find adoption papers. (She did not.) The tale of children swapped at birth was a national sensation, spent sixteen weeks on the
New York Times
bestseller list, and eventually yielded a sequel,
Thorns of Truth
(1998), which Goudge wrote in response to a decade of fan mail demanding she resolve the story.

Since then, Goudge has continued writing women’s fiction, producing a total of thirteen novels to date. Her most popular works include the three-book saga of Carson Springs—
Stranger in Paradise
(2001),
Taste of Honey
(2002), and
Wish Come True
(2003)—a small, secret-ridden town that Goudge based on scenic Ojai, California. She has also published a cookbook,
Something Warm from the Oven
, which contains recipes that Goudge developed as a reprieve from the stresses of writing novels.

Goudge met her current husband while conducting an interview over the telephone. Entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon was so taken with the author that he asked if he could call her back when the interview was done, and after weeks of late-night conversations they met in person and were married in 1996.

Goudge lives with Kenyon in New York City.

  Goudge at age two, sitting on her father’s shoulders at the San Francisco Zoo. Goudge’s father was a talented painter. In the 1940s he painted caricatures at county fairs though once his family grew he focused on his insurance agency and self-taught skill at architecture.

  Goudge, age three, and her sister, Laura, in a playhouse built by their father. In addition to being a painter and insurance agent, Goudge’s father also designed and built houses.

  Goudge at seven years old, before her First Communion. The photograph was taken in the backyard of her parent’s first house in San Mateo, California. One of six children, Goudge loved being singled out from her brothers and sisters.

  Goudge, second from right, smiling with her three sisters in matching dresses. Goudge’s mother used to make clothes for her children. By the time Goudge entered high school, she had picked up sewing from her mother and begun to make all of her own clothes.

  Goudge with her younger sister, Patty, at a book signing for
Garden of Lies
in 1986. For Goudge, one of the most exciting aspects of the book’s release was being able to share with her friends and family a project she’d been working on for so long.

  Goudge dancing with her son Michael on her and Sandy Kenyon’s wedding day in 1996. The ceremony was held at a garden restaurant in New York City and the newlyweds honeymooned in Quebec City.

  Goudge with Barbara Walters on
The View
in 1999. Goudge said of Walters, “It’s no wonder why she’s famous. Barbara instantly puts you at ease. She also has the best lighting—there was an apricot glow that is so calming and flattering.”

  Goudge with her husband, Sandy Kenyon, near his homestead in Vermont. Goudge’s own real-life romance reads like those in her novels: After three failed marriages, she met Kenyon while being interviewed for the radio. When the interview ended, they continued the conversation, talking up to three hours each night, and married soon after.