A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [18]
Rita’s face broke into a huge grin. “No kidding? It’s also mine. I just love the Aiden. Have you ever eaten there?”
“Yes, several times. Not only is the food fantastic but it’s housed right in the Cumja Gallery. The artwork there is exquisite.”
“I agree. I was there last month and noted they’ve added a few new pieces by Terina, if you’re into her work.”
“I am and I’m going to have to check them out the next time I’m there.”
“You won’t be disappointed, Wilson.”
He shot her a glittering smile that she felt down to her toes. “I’m sure I won’t be.”
“Brian’s mother seems to be taking up quite a bit of Wilson’s time, Karen. Is that wise?”
Karen cast an annoyed glance over at Aggie Pittman, a cousin on her mother’s side who often got on her last dignified nerve. “It is wise if he’s on a mission for me. I suggested he go keep her company to make sure she doesn’t cause us any embarrassing moments…if you know what I mean. Just look at her outfit. It has department store written all over it.”
“Yes, but it does look good on her. I wasn’t aware a woman that age could still have a figure like that. Not everyone can pull such a style off and look so hot. My waistline certainly wouldn’t let me.” Aggie chuckled and added, “Neither would yours.”
If Aggie’s words were meant to amuse, they came up short. “I saw Jaye leaving the party. Is something wrong?” Aggie’s youngest son, Jaye, was a private investigator living in New York. Jaye came home almost every weekend to check on his father, who was confined to a wheelchair.
“No, he just needs to get back to New York to deal with some case he’s working on. I wish he would go back to practicing law.”
Aggie and her husband, Lester, had sent Jaye to law school. He’d practiced a few years, claimed he was bored and become a private investigator instead. His change in professions had been a big disappointment for Aggie. Karen could understand. Children could be so selfish at times.
She glanced across the room at her daughter. She fell within that category. Erica was everything Karen hadn’t been at her age, namely defiant. Unfortunately Wilson hadn’t been much help trying to get their daughter to obey.
Karen had once been young, pretty and vibrant like her daughter but she’d always known how far to take things. There was never a time that she hadn’t felt the weight of the Delbert empire and legacy on her shoulders. Her father would have much preferred she had been born a male and had never let her forget it. She had tried so hard to please him, even going so far as to marry the man he’d picked out for her. The man whose blood was just as blue as hers.
But, Erica… Even as a child she’d been defiant and headstrong. Growing up, she’d wanted to be a normal kid like all the others. It had taken all Karen had to try and make Erica realize that she was of a unique class of people, with a heritage that set her apart and would always keep her that way.
And now Karen would give all she had to keep her daughter from making a fool of herself by marrying Brian instead of Griffin.
Karen tightened her hand on the wineglass she held and turned back to her cousin. “Aggie, please inform Jaye that I’d like to have a private meeting with him when he comes home again.”
“I will.”
If Aggie found her request irregular she didn’t show it. Just as well, Karen thought. There were some things one was better off not knowing.
Chapter Five
April glanced around the restaurant where she was meeting her agent, Neil Burton. She had flown into New York a few hours ago, barely having time to check into her hotel room and freshen up.
She had spent the last couple of weeks in Hattersville with Nana and would only be in New York for the weekend before flying to Paris for a magazine shoot. She’d stopped here purposely just to meet with Neil. They had important business to discuss about her future.
Neil had been her agent since he’d discovered her one summer on the sandy beach in Corpus Christi, where she’d gone her first year out of college to decide what she really wanted