Chynna was in love with Trent and she was miserable about it.
The never-ending "shortest engagement on record" had been extended once again. Now that Mrs. Payton had given a party to introduce her to the family members, she was ready to do the same with friends and business associates.
"My mother likes you," Trent told her in explanation.
"Are you sure?" Chynna joked. "How can you tell?"
Mrs. Payton had been kind, in her way. And it was getting easier every time to say yes to things that kept the engagement going — and harder to think of stopping this crazy merry-go-round they'd jumped aboard.
Still, it had to end. And at the same time, Chynna was facing an unhappy truth. The engagement might end, but the way she felt about Trent wouldn't. The way she felt about Trent was so overwhelming, it ate up her day, muscled in on her nights and generally crowded out all other considerations in her life.
Her supposed love for Robert had been nothing like this. Loving Trent consumed her. She ached to see him and when she saw him, she ached to touch him and when she touched him, she ached for much more.…
And yet, she was wracked with guilt at all times because they were living a lie. And most of all because she was lying to her sister. She'd been "engaged" to Trent for almost three weeks when she finally found the courage to confess. She'd been avoiding Melinda's calls, but this evening she made her way to her sister's apartment, ready to reveal everything and take her punishment.
She dreaded doing it. Although she doubted that Melinda had ever been as in love with Trent as she was herself, her sister had claimed him first. She'd had no right to go falling in love with someone her sister liked and still cared for. It made her feel like a rat. And she was afraid that telling was only going to make her feel worse. But it had to be done.
"Melinda, I have something I have to tell you," she said without preamble once she'd arrived at her sister's elaborately decorated place. She dropped to sit beside her on the overstuffed couch. Quickly she explained the circumstances, how Trent had caught her, the price he had exacted through blackmail.
"And ever since, I've been sort of…dating Trent."
She looked guardedly into her sister's face, expecting anger, pain, outrage. Instead, she saw the crafty look Melinda had when she was hatching one of her plots.
"Then there's still a chance you could get your hands on my folder," Melinda said hopefully.
Chynna blinked. "Melinda, don't you understand? We're seeing each other. And…and we're getting rather close.""Great." Melinda's mind was on other things. "Then he should be happy to give you my folder. Work on him."
Chynna sat back and stared at her. "You mean to tell me you don't care?"
"About what? Trent?" She made a face. "I think he's an arrogant SOB, but if you like him…"Chynna threw out her hands in exasperation. "I thought you were crazy about him."
Melinda shrugged and wrinkled her nose. "Maybe I said something like that once. But I didn't really mean it. I was just trying to get you to see how badly I needed my…my letters back."
She went on talking, devising different scenarios by which Chynna could get this done, but Chynna wasn't listening. She was stunned to find that all her worrying had been for nothing.
So Melinda and Trent had never been an item in any way? Was that the truth? If so, it was a big relief.
And yet, things didn't really add up. There was only one way to get to the bottom of this. She had to see what was in that folder — see it for herself.
