Public Secrets

front of the stove making a meal. It made him feel good to come home and find her waiting for him.
Perhaps he was too forceful about how she should dress, what clothes she bought, how she styled her hair. After all, her image, as his wife, was as important as his own.
He was particularly concerned about what she should wear to the showing. But as he said, he only wanted her to look her best. And, as he told her, she had a rather drab taste in clothes.
It was true that she preferred the column of black silk and hammered-gold jacket to the short, snug concoction of feathers and sequins he’d chosen. But, as he said, she was an artist now and should look the part. Because it touched her that he’d called her an artist, she wore it to please him. He gave her a pair of chunky gold earrings set with multicolored stones. If they were a bit gaudy, it hardly mattered. He had fastened them on her himself.
When they pulled up in front of the small, uptown gallery, her stomach began doing calisthenics. Drew patted her hand.
“Come on, Emma, it’s not as though you’re going onstage in front of ten thousand screaming fans. It’s just a little picture show.” With a laugh, he helped her out of the limo. “Loosen up. People are going to buy Brian McAvoy’s little girl’s snapshots whether they like them or not.”
She stopped on the curb, incredibly hurt. “Drew, that’s not what I need to hear right now. I want to do this on my own.”
“Never satisfied.” He snatched her arm hard enough to make her wince. “Here I am, trying to be a good sport about all this, trying to support you in what you’re hell-bent on doing no matter what the inconvenience to me, and you bite my head off.”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“You never do. Since you want to be on your own so badly, perhaps you’d like to go on in alone.”

“No, of course I don’t.” Nerves and frustration intensified the pounding behind her eyes. She could never seem to find the right thing to say, she thought. And tonight of all nights she didn’t want to alienate him. “I’m sorry, Drew. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just nervous.”
“All right then.” Satisfied with the apology, he patted her hand and drew her inside.
They had come late—as Runyun had ordered. He’d wanted the crowd there, and already intrigued, when his star arrived. He had his eagle eye on the door, and pounced the moment Emma walked through.
He was a small, bulky man who invariably wore a black turtleneck and black jeans. Emma had once thought he was affecting an artistic image, but the simple fact was he was vain and thought black made him look slimmer. He had a big, bald head, made more prominent by the high necklines, and thick black brows flecked with gray over his surprisingly pale green eyes.
His nose was hooked, his mouth thin. He compensated by sporting a Clark Gable moustache. It did nothing to improve his looks, which had always been poor at best. Yet his three wives hadn’t left him because he was ugly, but because he paid more attention to his art than his marriages.
He greeted Emma not with a smile or a kiss but with a scowl. “Good God, you look like a starlet out to lay a director. Never mind,” he added before Emma could speak. “Just mingle for a bit.” Emma looked at the crowd, the glitter of jewels and silk, the gleam of leather, with a kind of dull horror.
“You’re not going to disgrace me by fainting,” Runyun said. No one could have called it a question.
“No.” She drew a deep breath. “No, I won’t.”
“Good.” He had yet to speak to or acknowledge Drew, whom he had detested on sight. “The press is here. They’ve already eaten half the canapés. I believe your father’s been cornered by someone.”
“Da? He’s here.”
“Over there.” Runyun gestured vaguely. “Now mingle, and look confident.”
“I didn’t think he’d come,” Emma murmured to Drew.
“Of course he came.” Drew had counted on it. He put an affectionate arm around her shoulders. “He loves you, Emma. He’d never miss an important night like this. Let’s find him.”
“I don’t—”

The affectionate arm squeezed, startling a gasp out of her. “Emma, he’s your father. Don’t be snotty.”
She moved through the crowd beside him, smiling automatically, stopping now and then to chat. It helped a great deal to hear Drew brag about her. His approval, which had been so long in coming, brought a glow inside her. She’d been stupid, she thought