Zach pulled her into his side. “Sweetheart, this is Darcy, Ed’s new assistant. Darcy, this is my wife, Regan.”

Regan held her hand out to her, and her eyes grew wide. “I’ve heard so much about you. Welcome.”

This time, not only did her hands shake, but her palms began to sweat. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Benson.”

“Oh, please call me Regan. Zach and Ed have told me so much about you. I couldn’t wait to meet you.”

Darcy forced a smile. Did this woman even know the lies and deceit that ran in her small circle? This man to their side held secrets, and she probably didn’t even know about them.

Their attention was diverted when a woman walked on stage. She was possibly the most beautiful woman Darcy had ever seen, and when she began to thank everyone for attending, she knew that was Simone.

Christian led Darcy back around the table to the blonde which he’d earlier handed the drink to.

“Darcy, this is my date, Victoria.”

The woman remained seated, but held her hand out to shake Darcy’s.

“Call me Tori. It’s nice to meet you.”

Christian pulled out a chair for Darcy, and she quickly sat down before her legs gave out.

Simone continued to thank everyone for attending and then introduced the entertainment.

“I am so proud of this young lady. Please help me welcome my very talented niece, Clara Keller.”

The table of people cheered and clapped.

Christian leaned in next to her. “That’s my baby sister.”

She remembered that John had mentioned she was the talented one, and when she began strumming on her guitar and singing a Carrie Underwood song, Darcy wondered just how long she’d be singing at venues for her aunt. The woman was amazing.

As the night progressed, Clara continued to perform, people danced, and food was served. The Kellers moved around the table, not one of them keeping a seat for very long. Each of them had included her in their conversations, and she found that she enjoyed Ed’s mother tremendously. Too bad she wanted to smack Madeline Keller’s son across the face the next time she saw him, but she’d never let on.

Zach and Regan had gone out to dance and so had Christian and Tori. Darcy sat and sipped her drink, but a hand on her shoulder caught her attention. She spun to see Mary Ellen standing behind her.

Darcy clenched her jaw and forced a smile as she stood.

“I wanted to introduce you to my girls. My husband is in the hall, taking a business call.” The women to her side were the spitting image of the woman. They were fair complected and their hair hinted of red, where as Darcy’s was very dark. Certainly, she hadn’t expected them to be so similar. Well, she hadn’t seen the husband yet. Perhaps they took after him, too.

The obsession with dissecting this woman’s life was killing her. Darcy knew this wasn’t the time or place to ask the woman the questions that burned in her head. But she would. Oh, she would.

The night went on. Christian had asked her to dance, but she had declined. She’d wanted to dance with Ed, but now she was so mad at him she figured she’d have to quit.

Regan walked around the table and sat down next to her. “Are you having fun?”

“It’s been a very lovely evening.”

“I’m glad. Zach tells me you and Ed literally ran into each other at Starbucks.”

Darcy nodded. Under the table, she wrung the napkin in her lap with her hands. This woman made her very nervous.

“We did. My drink spilled down the front of me and ruined my interview suit.”

Regan laughed easily. “I got caught in a rain storm the morning I was to start at BBH. Mary Ellen laughed when she saw me come off the elevator.”

This was opening some doors. Perhaps she could maneuver her way around the conversation a bit.

“Ed said you’d met your husband on the bus?”

Regan laughed, and her eyes sparkled. “I fell into his lap. I rode to work on his lap, but I didn’t know he was my new boss.” She leaned in closer. “I wasn’t very impressed when I found out he was.”

Didn’t Darcy understand that all too well?

Regan sat back. “It didn’t take me long to fall in love though.”

“You were his assistant?”

“Yep, until he fired me and hired Mary Ellen back.”

The woman was smiling. How could she see the joy in that?

“You’d met Mary Ellen before you started?”

“She hired me. She was going on maternity leave. She’d worked for Zach for years, and she wanted someone to take good care of him.”

Maternity leave. The muscles in her neck tightened.

Again, Regan laughed. “I’m sure no one had a first day like I did. She went into labor, and we had to take her to the hospital. Oh, Curtis was frantic when he saw me there.” She sighed. “Babies come when they’re ready, even if you’re not.”

Regan looked up, and Zach was motioning her to the dance floor.

“It was nice to chat with you. Looks like my man wants to take a spin.” She stood and placed her hand on Darcy’s shoulder. “I hope Ed keeps you around. I rather enjoy you.”

She gave her a wink and then headed out with her husband.

It was time to get out of there. Darcy was very sure her time with the Kellers was about over. As soon as she had a few more bits of information, she’d demand that Mary Ellen and Zach tell her about their affair and about her birth. After all, if they were so compatible and even now still worked so closely, why didn’t they keep her?

Chapter Eight

Darcy had very much done a Cinderella at the ball move. She’d high-tailed it out of that hall as if the dress she wore would turn into a rag.

The moment she was in her own house, she stripped off the black dress, kicked off the shoes she’d worn, and took down her hair. It was as if she needed to rid herself of the person all those people had met.

When she was done, she plopped down on her sofa in a pair of lounge pants, a Kentucky University T-shirt, and her hair pushed back in a headband. If only she’d had a pint, or even a gallon, of Ben and Jerry’s, she’d be set to have the biggest self-pity party.

She was an idiot. She’d asked for this. It wasn’t anyone else’s idea to hire someone to tell her where the trail to her birth parents led. It was fate that put her in that building with the nephew of the man she was damn sure fathered her.