A Family Affair: Summer: Truth in Lies, Book 3 Read online

  Heartache. Betrayal. Forgiveness. Redemption. It’s time to head back to Magdalena, New York, and spend a little time with the people we love to love and even a few we love to hate.

  Eight years ago, tragedy struck the town’s perfect couple, Daniel “Cash” Casherdon and Tess Carrick, days before their wedding. That tragedy shredded their dreams of a life together and sent them fleeing Magdalena. Now, destiny has brought them back and the town is determined to see this couple mend their differences.

  Angelo “Pop” Benito will lead the crusade to march Cash and Tess down the aisle with the help of The Bleeding Hearts Society, a garden group more interested in healing people’s hearts than helping a sick basil plant. But they’re not the only ones cheering for this couple’s second chance.

  Who would have thought Nate Desantro would be giving advice on relationships, love, and marriage? But when a man finds the right woman, anything is possible. Add a baby to the mix; well, that’s pure “hero” material. Christine will offer her share of support and wisdom to Tess and stand up to an old troublemaker in the name of family and friendship.

  From the fifty-something widow who is afraid to open her heart again to the pregnant friend who believes everyone has a soul mate, to Lily Desantro, the shining light who makes others believe anything is possible, Magdalena’s finest will rally to give Tess and Cash that second chance. But all the prayers and contrivances in the world won’t help until Tess reveals the secret she’s carried for too many years, a secret that could destroy her chance with Cash forever…

  And if you’re wondering about Harry Blacksworth and his brood, you’ll glimpse a snippet of what he’s up to, but he’ll be back in full force in A Family Affair: Fall. Not only that—he’s moving to Magdalena with Greta and the kids! Can you imagine Harry maneuvering a lawnmower or carrying out the trash? Oh, but his past is going to catch up with him and then…Sorry…Harry has to wait for A Family Affair: Fall to share his misery and his story.

  For now, enjoy the journey as you catch up on the lives of the residents of Magdalena. They’re waiting for you!

  Truth in Lies Series

  Book One: A Family Affair

  Book Two: A Family Affair: Spring

  Book Three: A Family Affair: Summer

  Book Four: A Family Affair: Fall (Fall 2014)

  Book Five: A Family Affair: Winter (TBA)

  Bonus Material: Two chapters of Pulling Home, That Second Chance Series: Book One. She'll risk anything to save her child...even the truth.

  A Family Affair: Summer

  Truth in Lies: Book Three

  by

  Mary Campisi

  Table of Contents

  A Family Affair: Summer

  Dedication:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

  The End

  Letters to Cash

  Bonus Material:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  About the Author

  Other Books by Mary Campisi:

  Dedication:

  To my husband: my very own Mr. Darcy—on a Harley!

  Chapter 1

  Magdalena, New York

  If she knew her life were about to shatter into a million bits of unrecognizable tragedy, Tess Carrick would have kissed Daniel “Cash” Casherdon with greater urgency that afternoon, savored the taste of his naked flesh, dug her nails into his back. She would have ignored Magdalena’s raised brows and clung to him with the desperation of one taking a last breath.

  Because in the end, that’s exactly what it was—one last pure breath of the most consuming love she’d ever known. After, despite the town’s honest attempt at comfort, there was only pain. Lies. Betrayal. Too much guilt. Fate killed the memories of loving him with one shocking act, so concise, so final, there would be no retracing steps to an earlier time, no recapturing innocence or second chances. There would be nothing left but survival.

  But, of course, she knew none of this that night.

  Twenty-two minutes before the event that changed Tess Carrick’s life forever, she was just another jittery bride, counting the seventy-two hours until she could write Mrs. D. Casherdon sixty-two times on something other than a legal pad. The waiting had all been worth it: the four years of college to complete her nursing degree, the money-pinching to afford an apartment in Philly, Cash’s moonlighting as a security guard two towns over, the restless nights in an empty bed. The constant wanting. Soon, they’d pledge themselves in St. Gertrude’s Church just as her parents had, in the presence of God, friends, and family. Some of those very same friends and family who had attended her parents’ wedding would be in the pews. They might look a bit different: thicker middles, wrinkles, and whiter, thinner, or less hair; but the joy and teary well-wishes they’d offer would be the same.

  For now, there were the lists to get through, organized on a spreadsheet with six columns, compliments of Gina Servetti, Tess’s maid of honor. Stuff silk daisies into tiny vases for centerpieces at each table, tie Jordan almonds in pink netting, pack for honeymoon to Niagara Falls, remind JJ to pick up his tux. Seeing her kid brother in a tux instead of baggy jeans would definitely be a photo moment. Maybe Cash would even convince him to shave off the ten strands of fuzz sprouting from his chin. Tess had always thought her dad would be the one walking her down the aisle, the one who would brush away her tears through the father-daughter dance. One giant heart attack had squeezed the life out of him last year and now it was just JJ, Mom, and Riki, though no one had heard from Riki in five months.

  And there was Cash, of course. He consumed her world, and maybe, depending on what time he got off work tonight, he’d sneak over in his squad car and she’d show him just how lucky he was to be marrying her. Of course, that detail wasn’t on Gina’s spreadsheet.

  “Tess, can you hand me the scissors?”

  There was no way Gina knew what Tess had been thinking just now, though Gina had a way of acting like she did. It made Tess wonder if her friend possessed a sixth and seventh sense about people—or maybe just about sex. Of course, Gina didn’t like to talk about sex or lack thereof…or men, or lack thereof. Bree said she thought it had more to do with making sure the town didn’t compare her to her “Sex oozes from my pores” cousin, Natalie Servetti, than the fact that Gina wasn’t a size 2. Or a size 12. Gina worked awfully hard convincing herself and her prospects that she was undesirable. She was studying to become a physical therapist, and when Tess and Bree asked how that was going to work, seeing as she’d have to actually touch a male patient’s body, Gina responded that men and women consisted of muscles, bones, tendons, and joints, and that was her focus. Apparently Gina really did think she could separate body parts and people in that overly compartmentalized brain of hers.

  Unlike Bree, Tess’s matron of honor, who was ninety-nine percent emotion and one-percent logic. “I absolutely cannot wait until Saturday. You are undoubtedly the hottest couple this side of the Mississippi.” Bree Kinkaid spoke with a hint of southern drawl, though she’d never been south of Baltimore. Gina said it was all affected, ever since Bree watched Gone with the Wind. But there was something about Bree, with her long legs and model figure, even seven months pregnant, that could make
a person think about elegance and femininity. And sex, of course.

  Seven months ago, they’d been tying baby’s breath and lace for Bree’s wedding to Brody Kinkaid. Big, broad, and bronzed, Brody had been all-county tight end for the Magdalena Mustangs, and even played in college until he busted a knee during spring ball, came home, rehabbed, and got cut from the team. Angelo “Pop” Benito, who followed Brody’s career, said it had more to do with the boy’s inability to get past freshman math and English, though how a man like Pop, who had never graduated ninth grade, would know about college was the bigger question. Or maybe it wasn’t. Pop Benito was the Godfather of Magdalena, and he possessed a wisdom and common sense that could not be learned in the classroom.

  Of course, Bree had insisted that Brody’s early exit from college was due to financial issues and not his skills, academic or otherwise. Whatever the reason, it bothered Bree more than it did Brody, who had found his niche with the Magdalena Volunteer Fire Department, chasing flames, climbing ladders, saving lives—a new way to funnel the charged-up adrenaline and testosterone soaring through his body. Unfortunately for him, he also had to bring home a paycheck and that’s where Bree’s father came in. Rex MacGregor owned MacGregor’s Cabinets and was not going to let his baby girl go without, so he hired Brody as his sales manager, even though the young man didn’t know the difference between a hinge and a handle.

  Gina nicknamed him “Testosterone Brody” because he got his honeybee pregnant on their honeymoon. Not a surprise, considering Brody did everything with an all-or-nothing attitude—climbing ladders, eating massive amounts of red meat, making love to his wife. The man was a gentle giant who loved his country, his town, his wife, and his future children. He planned on six: five boys and one girl. A regular front line.

  Tess placed three miniature silk daisies in a vase and worked a pink ribbon around the mouth. Six more to go and she could put a check under column six on the spreadsheet.

  “Mimi’s got the bridal suite all ready for you,” Bree said, her expression wistful and dreamy. “Just wait until you see it. Pure Heaven.”

  Gina let out an annoyed sigh. “Not everyone wants to do it on a bed of rose petals. Kind of messy.”

  Bree closed her eyes and smiled. “Every time I smell a rose I think of that night and I hunt down my man.”

  Sixty-six-year-old Mimi Pendergrass, descendant of John and Harriet Pendergrass, Magdalena’s founding family, owned and operated Heart Sent, one of the town’s two bed and breakfasts. The other, Rusty’s B&B, provided no competition once a visitor met Rusty Clemens, a bearded former logger who had yet to connect with soap and running water on a daily basis. Mimi pretty much ran the town as mayor and president of The Bleeding Hearts Society, the latter providing more leadership than the former. Despite losing a husband and a son, Mimi believed in love and opened her bridal suite, which was an oversized room with a heart-shaped tub, velvet draperies, three-inch-thick carpeting, and a king-size bed strewn with rose petals, to Magdalena’s newly married couples. And she invited them back on their first anniversary.

  “Then stay away from my place,” Gina said, scrunching her nose. “I don’t want you procreating in my flower beds.”

  “Oh pooh.” Bree laughed. “I said I hunted him down; I didn’t say I stripped him naked and had my way with him.” The Southern drawl licked her words like a child’s tongue on a melting ice cream cone. “I do have some self-control where my husband is concerned, though admittedly, not much. But I’m not going to give this town one more tidbit to gossip about than they already have. That dang Bleeding Hearts Society is worse than a tabloid and the only thing they grow is gossip.”

  Surprisingly, Gina was the one to defend the club. “You know they do a lot of good for people aside from the obvious.”

  Bree let out a delicate snort. “Such as?”

  “They’re like the town cheerleaders. When my aunt lost my uncle, they sent a whole chicken dinner, and the stuffing was real, not boxed. Pumpkin pie, too. And they brought inspirational books and vases filled with lilacs and hyacinth. They were there for her when the rest of the town moved on.” Gina shrugged. “If that’s being a busybody, then maybe they are, but they really care, not just a quick how-do-you do?” She looked away and said, “I was thinking about going to a meeting.”

  “Really?” This caught Bree’s interest. “You think they’ll let you in?”

  Gina shot her a look that would have been taken for disgust if she hadn’t added a smile to it. “Pop Benito belongs. You think they won’t let me in?”

  Tess pictured Pop in his football jersey and high-top sneakers, singing Sinatra’s “My Way.” “Good point. Now, can we get back to business? I’m getting married in three days and there’s a whole spreadsheet left to cross off.”

  “To the sexiest man in Magdalena,” Bree cooed. “Next to Brody, that is. I’d add Nate Desantro to the list if he ever smiled.”

  “Would you smile if your mother took up with a guy who visited her a couple times a month, then left for who knows where, only to come back again? And had a kid with her?” Gina’s dark eyes turned darker. “You know he’s got to be married.”

  Bree sighed. “It’s so sad. I like Mrs. Desantro and I met Charlie Blacksworth once. He was a real gentleman. And he had the bluest eyes…”

  “Give the blue-eyed man a star for being a real gentleman while he’s two-timing his wife and leaving his Down syndrome daughter behind every month.”

  “Oh, Gina. That’s pure tragedy.” Bree swiped at her eyes. “And you don’t know that he’s married. There could be a very logical explanation for his monthly comings and goings.”

  Gina rolled her eyes and looked at Tess. “Well? What do you think?”

  Tess had never met the man, but she wasn’t naïve. “I think he’s married.”

  Bree wanted to find the gray between the black and white of right and wrong. “What does Cash say?” she asked. “Does Nate ever talk to him about it?”

  “Only to say they aren’t going to talk about it.”

  “Oh.” Bree’s lips pulled into a frown. “How sad.” She leaned back, rubbed her protruding belly. “I can’t imagine not being with the one you love.” More rubbing as her voice dipped to a whisper. “There’s nothing sadder than that.”

  ***

  The first time Tess set eyes on Daniel Casherdon, he was, unfortunately, in the back of her Uncle Will’s police cruiser. Not a good place for an almost eighteen-year-old with long hair and a reckless streak. Uncle Will made it his personal mission to “deal with those hoodlum types,” as he called them, and the punk kid from Artisdale Street was no different. Only Cash was different, as they would all soon discover…

  When Cash stared at her from the back seat of the cruiser, the warnings about hanging around with boys who got in trouble with the law melted under that intense gaze, and by the time her uncle realized what was going on, it was too late. Tess had fallen under Daniel Casherdon’s spell, just like all the other fifteen-year-olds at Magdalena High.

  It would be another year before Cash actually talked to her, and she later learned it had to do with the lecture or rather, threat, Uncle Will gave him in regard to his niece. Pretty much a “Leave her alone or find yourself in the back of the squad car every time you don’t.” The threat fell apart one sweltering July afternoon outside MacGregor’s Cabinets. Bree’s father, Rex, owned the place, and Cash was one of the new hires. Bree had gotten her driver’s license six weeks before, and she and Tess stopped at the cabinet factory to deliver a tuna on rye, courtesy of Bree’s mother in her continual attempt to get her husband to lose that spare tire. When they stepped out of the car dressed in cut-offs and halter tops and smelling of suntan oil, Tess spotted Cash eating lunch at an old picnic table with several other workers. His gaze unsettled her and she tripped going up the steps, a fact that humiliated as much as angered her. Daniel Casherdon was a nobody, even if he had eyes that made a girl lose her balance and a mouth that said, “Kiss me” with
out uttering a word. He was too good-looking, too daring, too…too everything. And that meant danger.

  Cash found her that night, standing outside Lina’s Café with a group of her girlfriends, and when he spoke her name, his voice sent shivers straight to her brain, erasing her earlier thoughts about him. She got in his Chevelle and drove to The Lookout where they sat and listened to the night sounds of Magdalena: crickets, owls, rustling leaves. She’d grown up with the familiar sounds, but they were intensified by the presence of Daniel Casherdon. For all of his supposed bad boy history, he didn’t try to kiss her or make a move, even though she later realized she would have let him.

  There were a lot of things Tess would have let him do, and many which he eventually did. Wasn’t that what love was all about? A giving and sharing, stretching emotions to a point where it was impossible to determine where one stopped and another started? She and Cash spent six years preparing for a life together, one that included venturing outside Magdalena to build careers, travel and explore, and eventually make their way back to start a family and take their place in the community as Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Casherdon.

  And in three days they were going to start their journey.

  Chapter 2

  Cash fiddled with the radio station until he located his favorite. Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” sifted through the speakers, perking him up as much as the coffee he’d just finished. He glanced at the clock on the cruiser. Two more hours. Tonight he was glad to be policing Magdalena where nothing more critical happened than escorting Howard Singletary out of O’Reilly’s after one too many beers or listening to Gladys Blinten complain because the “hoodlums” behind her were listening to “sacrilegious” music. If the band heard that, they’d probably hire Gladys as their spokesperson.

  The town did have its charm in a backward, sit-down-and-stretch-your legs kind of way. A person couldn’t live in this place without warming to at least a few of the locals like Pop and Lucy Benito with their stories that taught as well as entertained, and their endless collection of herbs, flowers, and wisdom. And that garden group, doling out flowers and advice like Dear Abby in garden gloves. He and Tess would come back here one day, but that was way down the road. Right now, too many years and too much opportunity stretched in front of them: nursing for her, more police work for him. In a big city. With real hospitals and real crime. It didn’t matter where they ended up as long as they were together, a truth Tess’s mother struggled with even now. Olivia Carrick loved to control things, especially her family.