Big Girls Don’t Cry (Dundee, Idaho #6)(45)
Author: Brenda Novak

Liz had expected Keith’s family to know about her—or she would’ve waited until she could confront him somewhere alone. She’d assumed word would have spread by now, sending shock waves through the whole community. Especially a community the size of Dundee. How could Keith’s parents not know? Why wouldn’t Reenie have told them?

Maybe Reenie felt as humiliated as Liz did. But at least Keith had really loved Reenie. At least he’d wanted to save his relationship with her.

“So? What do you have to say?” Georgia prompted.

Managing to burrow beneath the Band-Aid covering her thumb, Liz dug even deeper into her cuticle. She’d thought speaking to her husband at his parents’ house would be much more private than showing up at the hardware store, where the clerk at the Gas-N-Go had told her Keith worked. But she’d made a terrible mistake coming here. She should’ve waited….

“I—I realize this is difficult—” she started, but Keith appeared in the doorway at that moment, and the sight of him took Liz’s breath away. This was her husband, the man she loved. Surely there had to have been something authentic about their relationship.

She stood because she didn’t know what else to do. Her natural impulse, even now, was to go to him. She longed to feel his strong arms slide around her, craved his smell, his touch.

But he didn’t give her so much as a smile. He looked worried, rumpled, on edge. “Liz,” he said with a formal nod.

Georgia O’Connell looked from one to the other. “Who is this woman, Keith?”

Pressing the butt of his hand to his forehead as though he had a terrible headache, he closed his eyes.

Liz held her breath.

“Keith?” his mother repeated.

The shrillness of Georgia’s voice seemed to shock him out of his stupor. It also brought an older man to the living room, one close to Keith’s height but significantly heavier. “Georgia?” he said. “Are you okay?”

This had to be Keith’s father, the man the gas-station attendant had called Frank. Liz could see the family resemblance, the concern underlying his gruff exterior when he saw his wife’s distress.

“Mom, Dad, I—I’ve made a terrible mistake,” Keith said.

Liz dug deeper into the cuticle of her thumb, drawing blood. So she was nothing more than a mistake? She should’ve let Isaac accompany her here, as he’d suggested. But she’d thought, she’d hoped, that Keith would come to his senses the moment he saw her, that he’d realize how much he loved her and that they could figure out a positive solution. Why would she want Isaac as a witness to that? He’d never understand why she’d consider taking Keith back.

“You had an affair!” Georgia gasped.

Keith’s eyebrows drew together, but his eyes never wavered from Liz’s. Liz got the impression that he missed her, too. But something held him back. “It started out that way,” he said softly.

At this, Liz’s knees nearly buckled. Georgia swooned, and Frank rushed to his wife’s side. “Is that why Reenie’s divorcing you?” Georgia asked as his father gripped her hand. “Because…because you cheated on her?”

Keith blanched but nodded.

The color drained from Georgia’s face, leaving her as pale as her son. “So who is this woman? I’ve never seen her before in my life. But she claims you’re married to her.”

“He can’t be married to her,” Frank said. “He already has a wife.”

“We are married,” Elizabeth insisted. “And we have two children.”

When Keith didn’t deny it, Georgia’s eyes narrowed. “No! Keith, you wouldn’t…you…that’s illegal. We brought you up better than that.”

“Where are the kids?” Frank asked.

Liz took two pictures from her purse. “Christopher, our son, is with my brother.” She handed Chris’s picture to Frank and Mica’s to Georgia. “Mica, our daughter, is in school.”

Stupefied, they stared down at the grandchildren they’d never known they had.

“In school where?” Keith asked, and Liz felt her first flicker of hope. She could tell he was eager to see them.

“Caldwell Elementary.”

Georgia managed to pull her attention from the photographs. “Here in Dundee?” she cried.

Liz nodded. “I’ve rented the house across the street from the Holbrooks.”

“Oh God,” she said, and crumpled into her seat.

THAT AFTERNOON, Reenie let the van idle at the curb as she tapped the steering wheel, waiting nervously for her girls to get out of class. Had Jennifer, Angela and Isabella had any more contact with Mica or Christopher? If so, had Liz’s kids mentioned their daddy? Grade-school children didn’t generally give names. They said My mom or My dad, not Keith. So there was a chance her daughters still believed having the same last name was a random coincidence.

There was also a chance they didn’t….

She should’ve told them, she thought with a curse. But she hadn’t been able to think clearly. In trying to shelter them, she’d left them vulnerable to a terrible surprise.

Jennifer came around the corner of the building, and Reenie held her breath until her oldest daughter spotted her in the van and smiled. Jennifer was fine. But she was two years older than Mica. Once school started, she wouldn’t have had much direct contact with the third-grader.

Isabella appeared next. She came bounding down the line of cars, skipping and waving papers at Reenie. Obviously, she was pleased with her performance on some recent assignments.

Mirroring her smile, Reenie told herself to relax as they reached the van.

“Hi, Mom!” Jennifer said, climbing in.

“Hi, honey,” she replied, but she was watching Isabella, thinking, That’s two. Her baby didn’t know, either.

“Look! I got a star on all three,” Isabella announced as she clambered inside.

“Wow, good for you, sweetheart.” Reenie examined each paper. Then Jennifer told them how she nearly beat the whole fifth grade in a basketball shoot-off.

Reenie responded with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, but the crowd of children at the school was beginning to thin and Angela still hadn’t come. “Where’s your sister?” she asked.

Jennifer pulled the fourth Harry Potter book from her backpack, which she was reading for the fifth time. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen her.”

“Was she at the last recess?”