Page 47 of Falling For The Enemy (The Gilbert Curse)

“As it is to us,” Aunt Mal reminded him. “We both only have each other. That poor woman was left in a coma and the cousin scarred. Seems to me that both of our families were impacted by that night and Dash’s decisions.”

They had been.

“Based on what we’d been told, I agree. It’s why we started Palmer Industries,” he said.

“It was. You were so determined to make things right.”

The more Kit had gotten to know Dash the less he felt like the other man had made a rash decision to ruin his father, but then again he’d been in his early twenties that night. He might have done something out of temper instead of thinking it through.

“We were. I haven’t told Rory that Dec was my brother or about our connection,” he admitted to his aunt. He was anxious to go and get Rory so she could meet his aunt.

“Probably a smart decision for now,” she said. “But what are you going to do? We can’t pretend forever.”

“No, we can’t. I am planning to tell her everything soon. I have a meeting on Wednesday with Conrad and Dash and I’m going to ask them about the night of the ball. I told you that Rory was attacked by her date. I need to find out if it was Dec.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Your brother was always honorable. I’m sure that the Gilbert men have it wrong.”

He hoped so, but he didn’t know either of them to lie. Not even old man Gilbert, who’d admittedly been arrogant and had closed the factory without much warning to the other townspeople, but still he hadn’t lied.

The only lie that Kit knew of was the one his father had told him. And in truth he couldn’t be certain his father hadn’t been honest or if Kit had just interpreted what he’d said that way. There was a lot to sort out. But it was worth it if he meant he and Rory could be together.

He left his aunt at his house and walked down to Rory’s place. She’d said she wanted to meet his family but he wasn’t sure she’d be ready to do it this morning. Aunt Mal was a lot to take and he hadn’t really done much to get Rory ready for her.

Fourteen

Kit’s Aunt Mal wasn’t at all what Rory had been expecting. She was so sleek and sophisticated, and Rory couldn’t help but feel she wasn’t measuring up in Aunt Mal’s eyes. In fact there was something about the woman that reminded her of her grandfather.

The older man had strict rules about everything to do with keeping up the Gilbert image in a way that made it easier to understand Aunt Mal. Just pretending she was like Grandfather was the simplest way.

She wanted Kit’s only close relative to like her, so when Kit was called out of town on business, she invited Mallory over for brunch. Rory and Kit had been growing closer and closer, so much so that Rory had also extended an offer for him and his aunt to join her family for Thanksgiving dinner at Gilbert Manor.

Conrad had been working on the menu for the last few weeks and Rory couldn’t wait to see what her cousin came up with.

The doorbell rang and Rory walked to open it, realizing how far she’d come physically since she’d moved into the house. She still had to use her walking stick but not frequently and her physical therapist was moving her to a nonmedical gym for light workouts as her strength returned.

She opened the door to see it was a cloudy day and some snow flurries swirled around Mallory. Kit’s aunt wore a fake fur leopard-print coat and a smart-looking pillbox-style hat over her slicked-back, black hair. Rory noticed that Mallory had on pointy-toed stiletto-heeled boots and for a minute she was tempted to apologize that she was only wearing her best black jeans and a silk pussy-bow blouse.

“Hello, Mallory. I’m so glad you could make it today,” Rory said as she stepped back and gestured for the other woman to enter.

“Of course, darling. I wouldn’t have missed the chance to have a little girl time with you,” she replied. She undid her coat and handed it to Rory, who hung it in the coat closet while Mallory put her hat on the table near the door.

Soon they were seated at her kitchen table and chatting over the delicious quiche that Conrad had walked Rory through making, alongside a simple salad and mimosas. If ever there were an occasion when she needed some alcohol to keep the conversation going it was this one.

“Kit told me the two of you have been working on this place. It’s quaint.”

“Thanks,” Rory said. “Kit’s been a real help. He’s really good at helping out but not taking over the job. It’s been important for me to complete projects on my own as I regain my strength.” Rory smiled at her guest, not bothered by thequaintlabel. She liked her house and when she looked around, she could see every part of it was filled with memories of her and Kit together.

“He is very good at that. When his brother was killed, Kit came home, determined to take over where Declan left off.”

“Declan?I didn’t realize that was his brother’s name,” Rory said. Declan Orr was the name of the man who’d been her date the night of the winter gala. The man who’d been drunk and angry and wouldn’t stop when she had said she didn’t want to have sex with him. She pushed her mimosa away and looked down at her plate.

Rory hadn’t expected that name to be triggering. But it was. She noticed her hands were shaking and brought them together in her lap and laced them together.

“Are you okay, my dear?” Mallory asked. “I thought you knew that Kit was Declan Orr’s brother.”

Shocked, Rory could only stare at the other woman. What was she saying? “How? I thought his last name was Palmer.”

She was trying to piece this together and honestly it was difficult to even figure out what his aunt was saying.

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