Legal Ease (Sutton Capital Series) (6 page)

Kelly opened the front door and pulled Jack in behind her, still holding his hand. “Mom,
Dad,” Kelly called out, “we’re here.”

Kelly’s mother came walking in from the kitchen wiping her hands on a dishtowel. “Who’s here, Kelly? Did you bring a friend?” Her mom stopped when she saw Jack. “Oh, you brought a friend,”
she said, all smiles and beaming. Kelly knew her mother was thrilled that Kelly had brought home a man. Just wait until she found out he was a married man.
Her
married man! How would she react?

“Jim!” her mother called out over her shoulder. “Come meet Kelly’s friend
.”

“Mom this is Jack. Jack, my mom, Bet
ty Bradley.”

Just then Kelly’s mom spotted the
diamonds on Kelly’s left hand and gasped. Taking Kelly’s hand in hers she just stared at Kelly, gaping. With a pained look on her face, Kelly tried to get out the words.

“Um, Mom. Jack and I…. We, um….” Kelly just couldn’t figure out the right way to tell her mother she had missed her daughter’s wedding.

“Ma’am….” Jack put his arm around Kelly. “Your daughter gave me the honor of becoming my wife,” Jack said in a somewhat old-fashioned way that was probably a little out of character for him, but was absolutely the perfect way to explain things to Kelly’s mom. Kelly felt a surge of gratitude for Jack and sank further into the curve of his body.

Kelly watched as her mother absorbed the news but the shock on her mother’s face was all she could see. She didn’t know if her mother was happy or mad or what.

“Jim!” Her mother really bellowed now. “Come meet Kelly’s new husband.” Her mother’s voice raised in pitch with each word so that she was practically squeaking at the end.

Suddenly the front hall was filled with her father’s large frame, her two older brothers
, who both stood just as tall as Jack and were both glowering at him, and her older sister – all talking at once. Jack kept his arm around Kelly and Kelly grabbed onto his hand as it wrapped around her waist, clinging to him as if he were an anchor. Her anchor. She just didn’t know what to say. Then Jack’s calm voice broke through the madness once again.

“Sir,” Jack said, extending his hand to shake hands with Kelly’s father, “I’m sorry we didn’t come to see you all first. It’s just that
this took us a bit by surprise.”

Kelly almost laughed
at Jack’s explanation but she also knew that he was trying to throw himself under the bus for her and she was in awe that he would go to these lengths to take the fall with her father. She knew not many people could ever say they’d heard such a humble apology coming from Jack Sutton. The look on her father’s face was priceless and her brothers even seemed to relax slightly as they watched her father take Jack’s hand and shake it.

Suddenly her mom and her sister were pulling her into the kitchen as her sister squealed with excitement and looked at the diamond on Kelly’s hand. Jack was dragged off by her brothers and father to the study for a drink. She could only hope he would survive until she managed to rescue him.

Jessica held Kelly’s hand tightly and gaped at the ring on Kelly’s finger but all Kelly could do was look at her mother’s face. There was no anger, just pain. She could see her mother was trying to hide the pain and it tore Kelly up. She had known this would be hard, but she almost wished her mother would just yell and scream. Anything would be better than this silent look of hurt.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Kelly said quietly. “I know you probably wanted to be there but we just had a private ceremony at the courthouse. It was all just so fast ….” Kelly broke off, not sure what more she could say to try to explain something that really just couldn’t be explained.

“Are you pregnant?” Jessica asked in her melodramatic stage whisper.

“Oh, Jessica, don’t be ridiculous,” Kelly’s mother swatted at Jessica and then turned to look at Kelly for a good long moment.

In her quiet way, Kelly’s mother asked her, “Are you happy, Kelly?”

Kelly nodded, “Yes, Mom, I really am.” Not for the reasons you think, but yes, I’m happy.

Her mother gave one swift bob of the head. “Then I’m happy, sweetheart. That’s all I needed to hear.” And with that, Kelly was wrapped in her mother’s arms. She couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt, though, and somehow her mother’s quick forgiveness made it worse.

Kelly
was sitting next to Jack at the dinner table but he couldn’t read her face as they all passed around bowls and platters, filling plates with her mom’s homemade chicken, macaroni and cheese, salad, and green beans. It was comfort food at its finest and Jack wouldn’t mind coming to more Sunday dinners if her mom’s cooking tasted as good as it looked.

“So, Kelly, Jack tells us you met at his office?” Kelly’s father’s question sen
t Kelly’s iced tea down the wrong pipe so that she coughed and sputtered. Jack laughed and patted her on the back while she tried to catch her breath.

“Um, yes,
Dad. We met at Jack’s office,” she finally managed to spit out.

“Oh, what do you do, Jack?” asked Kelly’s mother.

“I’m in venture capital,” Jack answered. “My company identifies companies at various stages of development that we think are good risks to invest in. Sometimes they need seed money, sometimes growth or expansion. We invest and we get a share of the company if they’re a success.”

When Kelly’s mom smiled warmly at him and said, “That’s nice, dear
,” in a way that Jack knew would sound condescending from some people, Jack knew that she meant it quite sincerely. She almost said it as if she were proud of him and Jack found himself missing his own mother. Searching for another topic of conversation, Jack turned to Kelly.

“Did you tell your parents about Yale, Kelly?” Jack had been referring to the fact that Kelly now had a way to pay for Yale but he was surprised to discover that she hadn’t even told them yet that she had been accepted. The room went silent as everyone looked at Kelly.

“Oh, no, I haven’t told them. I mean, we’ve had the wedding and everything. Then moving, you know,” Kelly said a bit weakly.

“Kelly got into Yale Law School!” Jack
surprised himself with how much pride he felt as he announced Kelly’s big news. He found himself taking a hold of her hand on top of the table.

Once again
, the family all talked at once as they congratulated Kelly and talked over each other in their excitement. When things quieted down, though, Kelly’s mom spoke up quietly.

“Kelly, dear, how much is that going to cost? I’m not sure we’ll have the money for Yale. Did you apply to any other schools, sweetheart?” she asked
hesitantly.

Now Kelly, Jack, and Jessica, were all sputtering in their drinks and trying to
recover while the rest of the family looked on with confused looks on their faces. Jessica recovered first and grinned at the rest of the family. She was the one in the family that read the gossip rags and kept up with who’s who in town and she had known who Jack was the second he walked in the door.

“You need to start reading the paper,
Mom. Kelly’s rich now. I mean really, really rich. As in, filthy stinking rich with a capital R,” she said with very little tact or grace and Jack laughed as Kelly’s face turned red.

***

Jack stepped out the back door of Kelly’s parents’ house and walked across the lawn to the oak tree where Kelly stood. Sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels, he stood behind her and followed her gaze out to the sunset as it created purple clouds spreading across the sky.

“Beautiful, huh?” Kelly
asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

“Incredible,” Jack said quietly, looking at Kelly instead of the sunset. Kelly looked down at her toes
and blushed.

“I’m so sorry, Jack,” Kelly said
as she looked up at him. She bit her lower lip.

Jack’s eyebrows shot up on his forehead. “For what?”
Jack asked, genuinely confused.

“For the mortifying dinner conversation. One minute my mom is practically telling you what a ‘nice little company’ you have and the next my sister is announcing your net worth
.”

Kelly
cringed and Jack imagined she was playing back her interpretation of the night’s events in her head. Jack laughed a genuine, full laugh. “I’m very used to people talking about my money, Kelly. And I happen to like your mom. She makes me think of my own mother and I like that, Kel.” Kelly looked up at him and he hoped she saw he meant what he said.

“I’ve been thinking, though, Kelly,” Jack went on
, as he took her shoulders in his hands and leaned in to speak close to her ear, his breath whispering over her neck. “If a newly married man comes to dinner at his wife’s house and they sneak off into the yard together for a private moment….” Jack turned Kelly to face him and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her up. “They would steal a kiss.”

He paused a
nd looked into her eyes a moment and watched her quiet gasp of understanding. Jack smiled. Jack wanted it to look like they were really married but he also had to admit that he’d been wondering what it would be like to kiss Kelly, to really kiss Kelly, especially after that small kiss at their wedding a few days ago. And, Jack was used to getting what he wanted.

“So,” Jack said as he leaned down and brushed his lips softly
along her neck before drawing back. “I’m going to kiss you now, Kelly,” he said quietly in a low voice that mesmerized Kelly and left her speechless. And then he closed his mouth over hers and kissed her, exploring her mouth slowly, tenderly.

Jack
didn’t mean to get so carried away. Just a little show to make things look the way they should to the world around them. Somehow that small kiss exploded between them and he found himself deepening the kiss, pulling Kelly even tighter to him as he delved into her mouth. He felt her hands come up to his chest and for a moment he thought she would press him away but then her small hands closed tightly, grabbing his shirt and pulling even closer as Kelly came up on her toes.

***

Kelly tried to focus on keeping her voice steady and her hands from shaking as Jack stood behind her watching the sunset. With Jack standing so close, it felt as if her body was reaching out to him, or maybe it was his body reaching out to set hers on fire.

Kelly felt h
er world suddenly spin sideways, out of control. His kiss was filled with burning passion and she felt a tingling sensation run though her body and her breath catch in her chest as she fisted Jack’s shirt in her hands, pulling him tighter to her. The second she realized what she’d done, Kelly gasped and let go of his shirt, pulling back from the kiss – but it was too late. She felt the strength of the attraction, the odd pull toward Jack.

Kelly
felt heat spread through her whole body and knew she had never felt a kiss like that before and was fairly sure she never would again. And that thought terrified her because this was temporary. This wasn’t real. And she didn’t fall in love with men. She just didn’t….
Did she?

Jack looked as stunned as Kelly felt but before either could say or do anything more, the back door swung open and Liam called them in for dessert.

Kelly had finished her registration for Yale and Jack sent the tuition in as promised so she was all set to start school in September.
Over the next week, Jack, Kelly, and Mrs. Poole fell into a comfortable routine around the house. Jack left for work before Kelly got up in the morning so they didn’t see each other before work, but Jack started coming home for dinner in the evenings. He was surprised to find he liked the time with Kelly at night, liked talking to her and having someone at home waiting for him at the end of the day.

Mrs. Poole often sat down and ate with them,
instead of just leaving a plate warming in the oven for him like she had before Kelly arrived. Then, Mrs. Poole headed back to her room and Jack and Kelly went into the den to watch a movie or T.V. together. After a movie, Jack would go into his office to work and Kelly would read a book before heading up to her room.

After a week of falling comfortably into their newfound
life together, Kelly happened to get up earlier than usual and entered the kitchen as he stood behind the center island in the kitchen, eating yogurt while he waited for his coffee to brew. He was still wearing his running shorts and t-shirt from his morning run and he knew he was probably still sweaty and rumpled.

Jack smiled at the unexpected sight of her.
“Morning, Kel. What are you doing up so early?”

“I’m going job hunting today. I want to see if I can find something other than temp work before school starts
.” Kelly took an orange from the refrigerator and started to peel it. She held the garbage can open with one foot and tossed the peels in.

Jack
’s smile turned to a frown. “Kelly, I really will pay all of your expenses during law school. I’ll even give you spending money. You’re going to be working hard enough at school as it is. You should relax for the summer and then focus on studying when you start school. I’ll take care of everything else.”