Genuine Lies

crystal. “I’m in for the duration.”
    Before Julia could drink, Eve gripped her wrist. Her eyes were suddenly very dry and very intense. “You may hate me before it’s over.”
    The hold was so tight, Julia could feel the pulse in her wrist beat against that of Eve’s thumb. “No, I couldn’t.”
    Eve only nodded. She’d made her decision, for better or worse. The only thing left was to finish. “Grab the bottle, will you? We’ll eat out on the terrace.”
    There were fairy lights strung through the trees and candles already glowing on the glass-topped table. The garden was hushed with dusk. Only the sound of air breathing through leaves and the music of water against water from the fountain. The gardenias were beginning to flower, and the sweet romance of their fragrance drifted everywhere.
    “There’s so much I need to tell you tonight.” Eve paused as Travers came out with plates of stuffed mushrooms. “You may find it too much, all at once, but I feel I might have waited too long already.”
    “I’m here to listen, Eve.”
    She nodded. “Victor was waiting for me in the car this morning. I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to be with him again, to know we were together, in our hearts. He’s a good man, Julia. Trapped by circumstance, upbringing, religion. Is there a more difficult burden than trying to follow heart and conscience? Despite all the problems and pain, I’ve had more happiness with him than many women find in a lifetime.”
    “I think I understand.” Julia’s voice was like the shadows.Soft, comforting. “Sometimes you can love without the happy-ever-after. That doesn’t make the story any less important, any less vital.”
    “Don’t give up on your own happy-evers, Julia. I want them for you.”
    Travers trooped out with salads, frowned over the fact that Eve had barely touched her first course, but said nothing.
    “Tell me what you thought of Kenneth.”
    “Well …” Realizing she was starving, Julia dived into the salad. “I’d have to say first that he wasn’t what I expected. He was more charming, more relaxed, more sexy.”
    For the first time in hours, Eve was able to laugh. “Christ, yes. It used to irritate the hell out of me that the man could have so much sex appeal and be so prim about it. Always the proper word at the proper time. Except the last time.”
    “He told me.” Her lips curved. “I’m surprised he escaped with his skin.”
    “It was nip and tuck. And he was right, of course, in what he said to me. Still, it’s difficult for a man to understand what a woman goes through when she must be in second place. Even so, I’ve always known I could count on Kenneth for anything.”
    Julia listened to the rustle of air in the leaves, the first cooing of night birds as Eve stared into her wine. “Did you know he was at the top of the stairs the night Delrickio got out of hand, the night Paul was almost beaten?”
    The green eyes flashed back up. “Kenneth?”
    “Yes, Kenneth. At the top of the stairs with a loaded pistol, and apparently ready to use it. You’re quite right when you say you can depend on him.”
    “I’ll be damned.” Eve set aside her fork, exchanging it for her glass. “He never said a word.”
    “There’s more, if you want an opinion.”
    “I’d like yours.”
    “I think he’s been in love with you most of his life.”
    Eve started to laugh it off, but Julia was watching her so quietly. Memories, scenes, half phrases, moments, passed through her mind so that her hand was unsteady when she sether glass down again. “God, how careless we are with people.” “I doubt he regrets a minute of it.” “But I do.”
    Eve was silent as Travers served the salmon. Inside her head was a cacophony of sound, voices hammering. Threats, promises. She was afraid she would say too much, afraid some things would never be said.
    “Julia, did you bring your recorder?”
    “Yes, you said there were things you wanted to tell me.”
    “I’d like to begin now.” Eve made an elaborate pretense of eating while Julia set the tape. “You know my feelings now on many people. The way my life had wound with theirs. Travers and Nina coming to me from such destructive beginnings. Kenneth, whom I stole from Charlotte out of spite. Michael Torrent, Tony, Rory, Damien, all mistakes with different results. Michael Delrickio, who appealed to my vanity, my arrogance. Through him I lost Drake.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “It was Drake