Clouds in the sky of life, Chap 3

Chapter 3
Saturday, February 17th, 2001
Novillo, 2 hours south of Alquitran, somewhere in Califoria, US
Bruce
The doorbell rang. Connie rushed to open. I heard how she screamed. I rushed to the hall. My wife lay on the floor unconscious.
On the porch was a woman I hadn't met before. She had more graceful features than Connie. Her hair was dark blonde, and her eyes were blue.
I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. Who was that woman? Why had Connie fainted after seeing her?
"Janice Eastcott," the strange woman said, extending her hand toward me.
"Bruce Eastmond," I replied, shaking her hand. Then I looked at Connie who was still lying unconscious on the floor.
"Let's take her in," I said.
Janice grabbed the head and I grabbed the legs. We carried Connie to the couch in the living room and laid her down on it.
"You better stay with Connie," I told Janice. "I'll go upstairs for a moment. I'll be right back."
As soon as I met Duncan, I told him the whole story.
"Did the unknown woman introduce herself?" Duncan asked.
"Oh yes. She said she's Janice Eastcott," I said.
"So you've finally met your sister-in-law, but if I read you right, Connie wasn't pleased," Duncan said. "Where did you leave her?"
"She's downstairs in the living room with Connie," I said.
§ § §
Connie
I woke up on the couch, and saw the same woman I had seen after answering the door. I almost fainted again.
"Well, it's about time you woke up," Janice said. "This isn't the kind of welcome I expected."
"You didn't even send a text to warn us beforehand!" I said. "You'd have reacted the same if Bruce and I would've appeared at your door unannounced. Why are you here?"
"Duncan invited me," Janice said.
Why had Duncan invited Janice? Why now? Did he know, how serious conversations I should go through with Bruce? I took a deep breath. Janice didn't know, and that was only good. I didn't need Janice to make this mess any worse. This mess was bad enough as it was.
"Duncan told me there will be an engagement party coming soon," Janice said. "He said he wanted me to see it. He remembers very well I had to miss your and Bruce's wedding because of that trip of mine, but now he invited me to make sure I won't miss this one."
I tried to calm my rushing thoughts. Engagement party! Diane hadn't mentioned anything about engagement, only a girlfriend. Did Diane try to hide things from me? Or did Janice rush ahead of things?
"None of us has met the girl yet," I said. "The only thing Diane mentioned was that we must set the table for six, when Peter comes in March."
"So there are the four of you. Peter is the fifth, so Diane's daughter-in-law-to-be must be the sixth one," Janice said.
§ § § END OF CHAPTER 3 § § §