‘How did you meet your husband?’ Jenny asked.
For a moment Susie looked at her like she hadn’t been aware Jenny was still there. ‘It was very romantic,’ she said in a dry tone that reminded Jenny of the one Nick often used. ‘I was working in a jewellery shop—a very high-end jewellery shop,’ she added. ‘He was there to buy his wife a birthday present.’ Susie sent her a somewhat condescending smirk, waiting for her outraged reaction.
‘Oh,’ Jenny said, blinking uncertainly.
Susie shrugged. ‘Anyway, we got talking, he invited me out for drinks. Long story short, he gave me the thirty-thousand-dollar bracelet that night and I was his mistress for the next year and a half before he divorced his wife and married me.’
Jenny was stuck on the thirty-thousand-dollar bracelet. Who paid that much for a piece of jewellery?
‘I’ve shocked you?’ Susie asked, bluntly.
‘It sounds all very …’
‘Scandalous?’ she supplied, widening her eyes sarcastically.
Jenny was getting tired of this woman treating her like she were some naive, small-town hick, incapable of understanding someone so worldly and sophisticated as her. ‘No, actually, I was going to say it sounds like something out of one of those midday movies bored people sit and watch at lunchtime.’
She got a moment of satisfaction from the flash of disappointment that crossed the woman’s face, and wished she’d never bothered to ask about her stupid marriage.
‘We were married for twenty-five years,’ she said, holding Jenny’s gaze with a triumphant glint. ‘He never had another mistress after we were married.’
Oh, well done, Gino. The man sounded like a dick, but then she realised just how messed up this whole affair must have been. Susie was an eighteen-year-old being seduced by a middle-aged man. Albeit a man she’d been married to for a very long time. ‘It must have been hard when he died. Losing someone you’d been married to that long.’
Susie’s face lost all expression once more and she cleared her throat quickly. ‘It was. Although it’s been somewhat …liberating, too. He could be quite demanding. Set in his ways,’ she added with a dismissive wave of her hand, almost as though she hadn’t meant to get that personal. ‘Our life was very different from anything back here.
‘Gino didn’t want children. Not his own, not anyone else’s. He made that very clear in the beginning. I had no choice. I couldn’t have Nick with me—at least, not then. Once I was secure in my marriage—once I had my own money and I knew I could support him if anything happened to Gino, then I could bring him back.’
‘But you didn’t.’
‘No. I … The lifestyle wasn’t fit for a child to be part of. I took him to my parents. I ate my pride and went back there. They agreed to raise him if I sent back money for his care and never told him who I really was to him. They didn’t want him being confused later.’ She shook her head. ‘They kick their daughter out of home at fifteen then act all moral and high and mighty.’
Jenny was stunned. She stared at the woman before her, completely lost for words. Her thoughts jumped from one detail to another in a desperate attempt to try and understand everything Susie had just revealed. Poor Nick. He was going to be devastated by this—his whole life had been a lie.
‘Nick must never know,’ Susie said harshly.
‘Nick hasevery rightto know! You’ve lied to him all this time.’
‘How dare you judge me? You have no idea what my life was like back then,’ Susie snapped, and shame momentarily poked at Jenny’s conscience.
Judgement played no part in her professionalism as a nurse. She dealt with people from all walks of life and situations that often defied logic or common sense, but each person was treated with dignity and respect—no matter what Jenny’s personal opinion may be. A patient was a patient. However, Susie wasnother patient. She was the sister—or rather mother—of the man she loved and she’d turned her back on him and left him for others to raise and care for. As a mother herself, Jenny couldn’t wrap her head around any of those decisions.
‘You’re right, it’s not my place to judge you. However, Nick deserves to know the truth about his life—and who you are,’ Jenny said calmly, despite the emotional upheaval that was battling inside of her. ‘It would be better that it comes from you.’
‘Meaning that ifIdon’t tell him,youwill?’ Susie asked with a snarl.
Jenny’s eyebrows lifted slightly in reply.
‘Wow, you sure know how to hide that devious streak behind the wholesome Mother Earth persona.’ Susie gave a dry chuckle before narrowing her eyes. ‘I guess this is one way to get rid of someone who doesn’t approve of your relationship.’
‘This isn’t about Nick and me. Or our relationship.’
‘And yet, how convenient that you’ll be on hand to pick up the pieces while I’ll be cut from his life completely.’
Jenny shook her head. ‘You don’t know that. But regardless, this is about you telling him the truth.’
‘Telling him the truth about what … exactly?’ Nick asked, stepping into the room, eyeing them warily.
The look on Susie’s face, the complete and utter fear, made Jenny’s heart sink. Dread crept its way up her spine. Yes, Nick deserved the truth, but it wasn’t going to be a calm, rational discussion. Despite what Susie believed, Jenny felt for her. She wouldn’t wish this situation on anyone.
