By Appointment Only Read Online Free PDF Page B

insecurities and fears were laid out for public consumption. The old woman shook her head. “People do it every day, child. Some more than once. It’s called hope.”
    “I’d rather face the truth. Marriage isn’t what it once was. My Grammy and Papaw had an ideal marriage. As I’m sure you and Mr. Beale did. People of your generation knew how to make it last. But marriage is disposable now. And I don’t see the point in pretending otherwise.”
    Elda shook her head, looking at Hannah the way a teacher looks at a prize student who has just turned in her first F paper. “Good Lord, Hannah. You couldn’t be more wrong. If you think your grandparents had a perfect marriage, you’re kidding yourself. I’m sure they had a good marriage, but the perfect marriage doesn’t exist.”
    Hannah thrust out her chin. “It might have come close in the past . . . when life was simpler and relationships were easier.”
    “There’s no such thing as the good old days. We girls married because that’s what was expected of us. And a lot of women became no more than household drudges. We didn’t have the luxury of outside jobs that made us feel important. The lucky ones of us had men who treated us well, but for every one of those husbands there were a dozen others who took the cooking and cleaning for granted. We didn’t divorce because it wasn’t easy or socially acceptable.”
    “But you were married for over sixty years. You made it work.”
    “I was married, yes. And most of those years were good ones. But there were days when I would have walked out the door without a backward glance if I’d had the opportunity. And if your Grammy were here, I’d bet my last dime she’d tell you the same thing.”
    Hannah slumped against the wall, her mind a blur. “So there really is no such thing as love that lasts a lifetime?” Saying it out loud made her feel sick.
    Elda propped one swollen leg on the coffee table. “Of course there is. But love isn’t some pretty, sterile, clean emotion, my girl. Love is messy. And it hurts. And sometimes it brings more grief than joy. But it’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative.”
    “Which is?”
    “Being alone.”
    Morgan sensed something different about Hannah that evening, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. She seemed distracted and not her usual energetic self. In fact, he could swear she was pale beneath her golden tan.
    On reflection, he felt guilty about pushing her the night before. Setting a date could stay on the back burner for a bit. The important thing was that they were now an official couple. And he could wait on the rest . . . if he had to.
    This was Hannah’s late workday, so he picked up Chinese on the way over, and they sat on the carpeted floor in front of her coffee table and watched the evening news. Hannah loved squabbling over politics and had even been known to switch sides in the middle of an argument just for the hell of it.
    Her sheer contrariness amused him, and he loved provoking her. And if those heated discussions invariably led to something much less cerebral and more carnal, well that was icing on the cake.
    But something was definitely wrong tonight. He’d deliberately sided with her most hated talk show moron, and she hadn’t even blinked an eye.
    He scooted behind her and massaged her shoulders. Hannah turned off the TV and groaned, dropping her head forward like a broken flower.
    He ruffled the curls at her nape. “Tough day at the office, dear?”
    She arched her back and sighed. “Not especially. But word got out about my ring, and suddenly I was the center of a paparazzi frenzy, minus the cameras.”
    He went still. “So your friends were excited for you?” He asked it carefully, still uncertain of her odd mood.
    She groaned when his thumbs pressed deep into her neck. “You’d have thought none of them had ever seen an engagement ring before. We even had champagne.”
    He was glad she couldn’t see his grin. “That’s