status of their relationship was. To her surprise, it was
almost a relief to relate the whole miserable story of how
he'd recently confronted her about Gavin staying at her
house.
"It sounds as if he's jealous," commented Audrey as she
sipped her tea.
Maggie shook her head sadly. "Maybe. But I think he's
mostly just concerned about Leah's welfare."
"I don't know. It seems to me he may have been hurt
more deeply than that." Audrey looked intently at Maggie.
"Now, honey, don't take this wrong, but sometimes I'm not
sure that you understand where Jed is coming from."
"Andyoudo?"
Her mother smiled. "Let's just say I see him from a dif-
ferent angle. For instance, do you consider Jed to be inse-
cure?"
Looking for YouAllMy Life191
"Not really."
"See, there." Audrey sounded as if she'd made her point.
"I happen to think that he is. In fact, I suspect that some-
where along the line, that man has had his heart broken-
and maybe badly."
Maggie remembered his words in the email. "Actually,
you're probably right about that. How did you know?"
"It was just a guess, but I'd be willing to lay odds on it."
Maggie studied her mother curiously. "I only learned of
this recently, and I still don't have any details. Are you telling
me that you suspected this all along?"
She nodded smugly.
"But what makes you think so?"
"Well, think about it, Maggie. He's extremely attractive,
very intelligent, and basically a really good person. Why do
you suppose he's never married?"
"Because the right woman never came along?" suggested
Maggie weakly.
"What makes you so sure? Have you ever asked him?"
"Well, no.. .1 guess I just assumed that if anyone did the
heartbreaking, it would've been Jed. I mean, take Kate, for
instance. I think he broke her heart."
Audrey waved her hand in dismissal. "I think Kate was
only slightly wounded, and Buckie's done a good job of
fixing her up."
"I suppose you could be right. But what does that have
to do with anything?"
"Well, it stands to reason that if Jed had his heart broken
once, he could be somewhat insecure when it comes to a
relationship where his heart is deeply involved again. Like
with you."
Maggie nodded hopefully. "He almost said as much."
"And he may need some extra encouragement and bol-
stering to take some risks in this area. And you need to