Annie on the Lam: A Christmas Caper (2 page)

Annie grimaced at the sight of carrot-top Sara in the pansy-pink bridesmaid gown. Despite hovering tears, she managed a small laugh. “You sure you're not warning me off Lance just so you won't have to walk down the aisle in that dress?”

“Lord.” Sara shook her head and tugged at her neckline. “What was your aunt thinking?”

“She went a little overboard on the girly quotient.”

“A little? This thing is gawd-awful.”

Annie shrugged. “She and Tess only had sons. Tess couldn't care less about all this, but Tawney was so into the planning, I let her do her thing.”

“Well, I'd wear the dress with a smile if you were marrying the right guy.”

Straightening the pearl-studded bow centered between Sara's breasts, Annie blurted a laugh. “You
are
a good friend.”

“Damn right I am.” Sara winked, then they hooked arms and went inside.

On their way back to the dressing room, they spotted Charlene and Reece standing with Sara's husband at the opposite end of the hallway.

When Craig waved, Sara said, “I think I'll go join them.” She squeezed Annie's hand. “Only you know what's right for you, honey. Not me or your family or anyone else. Make up your own mind about Lance. I'll be close by if you need me.” Like a fluffy pink cloud, she floated off toward the others.

 

A
S
A
NNIE STEPPED
into the sitting area adjoining the dressing room, her aunts' voices drifted to her. Something about Tawney's tone made her pause outside the slightly open door.

“Lord, please just let this be a case of the jitters and not another bail-out,” Aunt Tawney said in a worried voice. “We'll give her a few minutes, then I'm going to drag her in here by the hair if I have to.”

“I can't blame her. She's been single awhile,” Tess replied. “Trust me, you get set in your ways when you live alone for a long time. If I were in her shoes,
I
wouldn't go through with it.”

“But Annie's not like you. She needs someone to take care of her.”

Flinching, Annie braced a hand against the wall. She needed someone to take care of her? Since when?

“I know you and Milford believe that,” Tess said dryly, “But I'm not so sure. Annie's been taking care of herself just fine for years.”

“Her
daddy
takes care of her,” Tawney scoffed.

“In a way, I suppose. Milford certainly sees to it her life is carefree.”

Anger bubbled up in Annie. Is that what everyone thought? That she sat back and allowed her father to make her life easy and smooth? Yes, she had a hefty trust fund, but she also worked her butt off.

“And Annie
dropped out
of college, you may recall. She didn't just
leave
,” Aunt Tawney went on. “Who can blame Milford for looking for someone to step in at the bank when he retires? In forty years, Annie has yet to commit to anything—college, two prior engagements. She can't be trusted to follow through. Why, in junior high, she even refused to finish charm school.”

Humiliation as hot as the Georgia heat wrapped around Annie.

“
Charm school
,” Tess huffed. “If I'd known dropping out was an option, I'd have turned tail when I was a girl, too. Who gives a damn about how to flutter your eyelashes? Not anybody I care to know. Maybe Annie's just smarter than the rest of us. She does things her own way.”

“Exactly. She's always trying to push newfangled business ideas on Milford. I say if it ain't broke don't fix it. If she took over, I'm afraid to think what might happen.”

“Milford should give her a chance, think a little less about the welfare of his precious bank and more about her.”

“He
is
thinking about her. She'll get her inheritance whether or not she has control of it. He's only looking out for Annie by finding the right person to manage her interests. Milford won't be around forever to watch out for her. Thank God Lance came along. Our big brother can finally rest easy. Not only can Lance take care of the bank, he can take care of Annie in other ways, too.”

“Now see, that's what bothers me. She's forty years old for gawd's sake. Why in the world is he so overprotective? She doesn't need watching over or to be taken care of.” Tess sighed. “When Lydia died, he pressed his thumb on that girl and he hasn't lifted it since. I don't know how Annie has put up with it for so long.”

“He lost the love of his life, Tess. He's terrified of losing her, too.”

Even after twenty-four years, the mere mention of her mother's death brought painful memories back to Annie. To this day, she missed her. And her father…he'd been so fragile, so devastated after the accident. Annie had been sixteen at the time, and watching her father's heart break had almost killed her, too. She had understood that he over-protected her out of love and a pressing fear that she also might slip away from him. That's why she put up with his meddling long after she saw her first wrinkle in the mirror.

“The love of his life?” Tess made a hissing sound. “Lydia spent more time in New York City partying with her seedy friends that last year than she did with her own husband and child.”

Annie jolted. She had to physically stop herself from stepping into the room and coming to her mother's defense. Her mom had been chairman of the Savannah chapter of Women For Women, a national charitable organization helping homeless women find shelter and work. The chapter was new and struggling to find its feet when her mother took office. Lydia had traveled to New York periodically that year to learn strategies from that city's more established chapter, not to party.

“And that lie about her charity work,” Tess said with disgust. “Did she think he wouldn't find out she resigned her position almost before she began? From the start, I think her intention for taking it was to have a cover for those trips.”

Unable to believe what she was hearing, Annie closed her eyes. A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Please, sister,” Tawney said in a low tone. “This isn't the time to dig up family scandals. Thank God Milford was able to bury that particular one in the first place.” Whispering now, she added, “No one knows that she wasn't alone in that car. Let's keep it that way.”

Tess sighed again. “Milford's afraid Annie's like her, isn't he?”

“She
is
like her mother. So much so it's scary sometimes. She inherited Lydia's restless spirit, her inability to ever be satisfied and follow through with anything she starts. Milford's not about to let Annie spiral down and self-destruct like Lydia did.”

Annie pressed a hand across her mouth and let their words sink in. Obviously there was more to her mom's death than she'd been told. More than a woman making too sharp a turn and going off a bridge on a rainy night while away in New York on volunteer business.

And if her aunts' implications were true, there was more to her mother than she had ever known, too.

“Annie's always had her head screwed on straight,” Tess admonished. “She's not selfish. That's more than anyone can say about Lydia.”

“Don't tell me you don't see her mother in her.”

“In some ways, yes. She can be impulsive at times, and restless like you said, but—” Tess jerked her head toward the door, as if she heard something that alerted her of a presence on the other side.

Annie counted to five, then stepped in, noting their startled expressions.

“Well!” Tawney said and clapped her hands. “There's our girl. We were getting worried about you.”

Beyond the door, the music changed to Pachelbel's “Canon in D,” Annie's cue to leave for the sanctuary. She looked from one aunt to the other. If Tawney was right and her father was grooming Lance to take over the bank, she had only been fooling herself to think they would ever be equal partners. After they married, her life would be little more than that of a wealthy man's wife, one busy with chairing fund-raising benefits, entertaining her husband's clients, their friends. A life as a middle-aged Savannah socialite.

Her mother's life.

Is that what drove Lydia to her death? Had those trips to New York been her attempt to escape a life that didn't fit her? In that moment, Annie longed to talk to her mother, to ask Lydia's advice and hear her side of the story. Had she once been as confused as Annie was now? Loving and wanting to please Milford, but needing something other than the life he offered? Had her mother felt trapped and unfilled and bored to tears?

“I need to talk to Lance,” she said. She would ask him point-blank why he wanted to marry her, if he loved her, or if he only wanted her inheritance.

“But, Annie…” Tawney stepped toward her, reaching out a hand. “Vivienne will be here any minute.”

“Chirping orders and fluttering about like a sparrow on speed, no doubt.” Tess rolled her eyes and pulled a cigarette from the package in Sara's purse. “Some wedding planner. She's late.” She met Annie's gaze and nodded at the door. “Go talk to Lance. I'll tell
Vivienne
to cool her jets.”

Annie swung around and started from the room. Seconds later, at Lance's dressing-room door, she knocked once, then went in without an invitation.

Lance and Vivienne jumped apart, their eyes wide and startled. Vivienne tugged the hem of her dress down over her hips. Lance's hand flew up to his crooked bow tie.

Annie stared at them, waiting for a stab of pain that never came. She only felt a gnawing ache of humiliation and betrayal that swiftly transformed into disappointment before morphing into sadness. Then, just as quickly, relief swept through her. Lance had confirmed that her misgivings about marrying him were justified. She was doing the right thing by walking away. Sara had been right about him all along. He didn't give a whit about her; he only wanted the financial and career fringe benefits that their marriage would provide.

“I wasn't aware that that particular service was included in your fee,” she said to Vivienne. Shifting her focus to Lance she added, “Or did you pay extra for it?”

“Annie…” His face flushed maroon.

“You two just made what I came here to say a whole lot easier.” She pulled off the ridiculous, itchy veil, tossed it to Vivienne, scratched her head. “I don't want to marry you, Lance.”

As “Trumpet Voluntary” began playing in the sanctuary, Annie turned and left without waiting for Lance to respond.

 

A
T NOON
the next day, Annie sat across a table from her Aunt Tess. Every noise in the café entered her ears and banged against her brain. “Thanks for coming,” she said, spooning sugar into her tea.

Tess slipped off her reading glasses, set them aside along with the menu. “Are you hung over?”

“I wish. At least then I'd have some fun memories to go along with this headache.” She stirred the tea. “I didn't sleep last night.”

Tess's jaw clenched. “Firing Lance Holcomb isn't enough punishment for what he did to you. And with the
wedding planner
. How cliché. Your father should've strangled him.”

“Daddy fired Lance?” Annie sat straighter.

“Last night. You haven't talked to your father?”

“No.” She hadn't picked up his calls. “I wanted to talk to you first. I guess I'm a little upset with him. A
lot
upset. And confused.” Noticing Tess's baffled expression, she continued, “It wasn't what Lance did that kept me up last night. I was thinking about Mama.”

Tess met her gaze, held it. “You heard Tawney and me talking, didn't you?” Without waiting for an answer, she slumped back against the chair, crossed her arms and sighed. “I'm sorry, Annie.”

“Daddy's been lying to me, hasn't he? All these years.”

“No, Annie, not lying, really. Just—”

“Not telling the whole truth.”

“You were so young when the accident happened. He wanted to spare you more pain.”

“I'm not young now. I haven't been for years.” She stared across at her aunt. “Was my mother having an affair?”

Tess bowed her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Lord. You should ask your father these questions.”

“I'm asking you. You and I have never played games with each other. Let's not start now.”

Tess looked up and said, “I don't know if she was having an affair. That's the truth.”

“Aunt Tawney said there was someone in the car with her when it crashed. Was it a man?” Tess's silence was all the answer she needed. Annie studied the older woman's nervous expression for a minute as a multitude of unnamed emotions twisted and tangled inside her. Finally, she asked, “Who was he?”

“Digging all this up won't bring your mother back. It won't change anything.”