“I eventually learned the nature of her relationship with Jasper,” she said. “I tried so hard to win him back from her. I bought curling tongs so I could style my hair like her. I bought cosmetics and painted my face, just as she always did. The last straw was when I found out he bought a house for her and their child, and that was where he’d been spending countless hours when I thought he was working late at the laboratory. I broke down and went running to my father for counsel.”

The day she told her father about the affair was the only time she saw him roar in anger, throwing a vase across the room and vowing to cut Jasper out of his will. Her father had a heart attack a few days later and died before the end of the week.

She raised pained eyes to Liam. “Everything got worse after he died because the affair became public knowledge on campus. Vivian announced she would leave town, and Jasper panicked. He went running to her, but she wouldn’t let him inside her house. He planted himself on her front porch, refusing to leave. It was February, and he spent the entire night there. He had pneumonia the following morning.”

To this day it was hard to believe how quickly her life had unraveled. She tried to nurse Jasper through the illness, but she wasn’t who he needed. None of the physicians who examined him offered any hope, so in those final few days, Gwen left her home and allowed Vivian and Mimi to move in.

Patrick looked dumbstruck, and she rushed to explain. “Despite all his flaws, I still cared for Jasper, and it was the only gift I could give him.”

“What happened to the other woman?” Liam asked.

“She’s still at the college.”

Liam shot to his feet. “You shouldn’t have to put up with that. Tell me who she is, and I’ll go clear her out.”

Liam’s brute gallantry broke the tension. Imagining how he might unceremoniously dump Vivian off campus caused laughter to bubble up, but she soon sobered.

“I learned plenty from the sorry affair. After trying to make myself over into someone else to win Jasper’s affection, I gave up and vowed to be true to myself.” She held out her arms, facing them. Strands of hair escaped the messy bun at her nape. She was grubby from working outdoors and without a hint of cosmetics. “This is who I am. This is the real me.”

“It’s exactly how God made you,” Patrick said with gentle affection. “You’re beautiful. You look like something out of the Garden of Eden.”

His words were a balm to her battered spirit. Trying to make herself prettier for Jasper had been humiliating and futile, but the gentle heat in Patrick’s eyes blasted that inadequacy to pieces.