Free Invincible by Joan Johnston

most of your children here for Mother’s Day. But I can’t help wondering, where is their mother?”
    Foster cleared his throat uncomfortably. “She’ll be here.”
    â€œWhy didn’t Patsy come with you from Washington?”
    Bella knew that Foster, a retired four-star general, currently served as an advisor to the president on terrorism. He and Patsy had a brick home in the Fan District of Richmond, but Foster spent most of his time in another large home they owned in Chevy Chase, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.
    â€œPatsy’s been staying at her father’s ranch in Texas the past few months,” Foster said. “Her father’s been ill.”
    â€œThen it’s nice you’ll have a chance to get together today. When is she arriving? Are you picking her up at the airport, too?”
    Foster cleared his throat again. “She said she’d make her own travel arrangements.”
    Bella knew more about the situation between Foster and his second wife than she’d let on. She had enough social contacts in the Capitol to hear the rumors that Patsy and Foster had separated several months ago. Bella wasn’t sure of the exact problem, but it must have been something serious, since the couple had been together for nearly twenty years. She could understand why Foster didn’t want her around, if he was attempting a reconciliation with his wife.
    Well, Bella wouldn’t get in his way. For Patsy’s sake, if not his. Besides, she had enough problems of her own. How was she going to get her sons married off before she died, if they were determined to avoid her company?
    Bella had employed Warren & Warren Investigations, with its main offices in Dallas, Texas, often over the years to keep tabs on her children. Sam Warren’s information had always been reliable. She rarely interfered in her children’s lives, but once or twice, as they were growing up, she’d come to the rescue of one or another of her sons without his knowledge.
    She’d helped anonymously, because she’d known none of them would want or appreciate her help. Lydia had remained loyal to her mother after the separation, but she knew the boys blamed her for breaking up their once-happy family.
    It was your fault. You’re guilty as charged.
    There were circumstances she’d never had a chance to explain that might have excused her behavior, if only Bull had been willing to listen. He’d been too angry to hear reason. And she’d felt too betrayed to explain.
    She’d stood shocked and heartbroken as Foster tried to goad his brother into divorcing her. His diatribe was indelibly etched in her memory.
    â€œShe was a bitch when you met her, and she hasn’t changed one iota in the twenty-five years you’ve been married to her. I say cut your losses and get the hell out while you can.”
    Bella wasn’t sure she would ever be able to forgive Bull for refusing to listen to her. Although, at this point,it didn’t really matter, did it? She was running out of time to tell Bull the truth. Running out of chances to make amends before her heart failed.
    When Foster spoke, it was as though he’d been reading her mind. “I called Bull at his office in Paris and mentioned this little visit of yours to The Seasons. I wondered if he might have some idea why you decided to come here, considering the fact you haven’t been to The Seasons once since your separation.”
    â€œOh?” Bella said warily. “What did he say?”
    â€œHe was ready to get on a plane and come here himself. I didn’t think that was a good idea, considering everything.”
    Of course you didn’t.
    He arched a brow and said, “I told him that if you’d wanted him here, you would have invited him.”
    And you heard me tell Bull when we ended up brangling at the Heart Association Ball in February, that I would rather die than lay eyes on him