Twice Kissed - Lisa Jackson [167]
“His?” Maggie repeated, stunned.
“Yes. I, um, needed a father for my baby, so I dressed up like you and went over to Thane’s. He was all too easy to fool as he’d been drinking.”
“Oh, God.” Cramps spasmed in Maggie’s stomach. “But why? Why Thane?”
“He was available. And I wanted to get back at you because deep down, I blamed you for Mitch’s death. I knew it was wrong, but there it was. I tried to break it off with him and then you caught us in the hot tub and things went from bad to worse. Mitch got paranoid, swore you were gonna tell Mom and Dad. He started talking crazy and then…told me he was going to kill himself. I didn’t believe him…” Her voice faded away.
“And then he drowned,” Maggie said, not wanting to hear this side of Mary Theresa’s story and yet unable not to listen with morbid fascination.
“Yeah.” She sniffed. “I, um, thought it was because he was scared. Of you and I wanted to get back at you. Revenge.”
“Oh, Mary Theresa—” Maggie lifted a hand, cutting off any more of the horror.
“Don’t. It was wrong. I was messed up, I know it.” She buried her face in her hands, her fingers digging through her hair. “But I couldn’t stop myself and then I got pregnant again. Oh, shit, what a mess. I never loved Thane. Never. But I was jealous of you.”
“Of me? Oh, Mary, why? You were the popular one, you had everything going for you.”
“But Thane loved you. I mean really loved you. I could see it in the way he looked at you, the way he flirted with you, how you two joked. And he never once looked at me. No matter what I did. He was the first boy who wasn’t interested.” She lifted her head and met Maggie’s disbelieving gaze. “No one has ever loved me the way Thane loved you. No one.” She swallowed hard. “No one ever will.”
“Enough. I can’t hear any more of this. We’ve got to get out of here and whether you like it or not, you’ve got to call the police.”
“No way.”
Maggie had heard enough. In two swift strides she was across the room, her nose pressed to the identical one of her sister’s. “Come on, Mary. It’s over.” She wanted to slap some sense into the woman who still wanted to play at being Marquise. “You have a son! A son!”
“That was a surprise.”
“Thane’s boy. And you didn’t tell him. I can’t believe it!” “I—I didn’t know what to do, but I didn’t want to be tied down with a kid especially after losing Mitch’s—and I wanted out of the marriage to Thane. I don’t have to tell you that you’re never more alone than when you’re married to the wrong person.”
Maggie couldn’t argue; she’d felt the same way during her years as Dean McCrae’s wife. “Come on. Let’s go.” She picked up Mary Theresa’s bag; somewhere in the distance she heard the plaintive wail of a siren.
Swiping tears away with the back of her hand, Mary Theresa wrested her bag out of Maggie’s fingers. They started walking toward the front door.
“So why didn’t you just call me and tell me you were in financial trouble?”
“I couldn’t. I was the one with the fantastic career, the men, the money. I couldn’t admit that I’d failed, Mag. Not to you. And so when things got really bad a few weeks ago, Eve hatched this scheme for me to disappear and boost the ratings and the like. If things worked out at the station because of viewer interest, I could name my own price, or go somewhere else, maybe revive my movie career and, of course, write a book. I, um, even thought you could help me with that one. But I was angry with Thane, really angry. And I wanted you to come here to be a part of my triumphant return.”
“I was scared to death.” They reached the front door. “I thought you were dead!”
“I know, I know, but if I hadn’t thrown my voice and communicated with you, you might have thought I was dead. This way you knew better.”
“So why didn’t you communicate with me again?” Maggie demanded, angry. “You still put me through hell.”
“I had to