THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER

by Ginna Gray

  She leaned back in his arms again with an exasperated expression. "If you must know, mothers don't like me. Okay?"

  "That's nuts. You met my mother. She thinks you're fantastic."

  "Yeah, well, that was before you and I were involved. Now that I'm practically living with her son, I'll bet she wishes I'd never come back here."

  "Honey, you are living with her son. You just won't admit it. And I'll take that bet." He turned her around and hustled her toward the bedroom. "Now, shake a leg, Red. We don't have much time."

  Dan won the bet. Lucy Garrett welcomed Maggie as though she were a long-lost daughter, enveloping her in a hug the minute they arrived.

  Matt Garrett, his wife, Caroline, and their two children had arrived from Dallas the night before. Mary Alice Garrett Trent, husband Joe and their brood of five lived in Ruby Falls and had come over early that morning.

  The younger Garretts and their spouses, though gracious, were at first intimidated by Maggie's celebrity and more reserved than Lucy. Their stiffness dissolved quickly, however, when Maggie joined in a rough-and-tumble game of touch football with gusto and later pitched in to help in the kitchen.

  At dinner, when Maggie ate second helpings of every dish on the table, Lucy beamed her approval. The others could only stare in dumbfounded amazement.

  "Holy cow, does she eat like that all the time?" Matt blurted out when Maggie helped herself to a second slice of pecan pie.

  "Several times a day."

  Maggie grinned. "My momma says I was born hungry."

  "It's not fair," Mary Alice wailed. "If I ate half of what you do I'd weigh three hundred pounds."

  "And I always thought models ate like birds," Joe marveled.

  "Now, you children leave Maggie alone." Lucy shot a reprimanding look around the table at her brood. "These days it's refreshing to see a young woman with a healthy appetite."

  "Healthy, my arse. Hell, Maggie, sumo wrestlers don't put away what you do." Matt grinned at Dan. "Damn, bro, you're gonna need a second job just to feed her."

  Ignoring Lucy's scolding, Maggie laughed right along with the rest of them.

  By the time she and Dan left that evening the whole Garrett clan was treating her like family.

  "Now, aren't you glad you came?"

  "Mmm. I like your family, and your mother's a great cook," she replied, patting her tummy.

  Maggie rested her head on the seat back and closed her eyes.

  The day had, indeed, been relaxing and fun and had given her a needed break from the problems she wrestled with every day, but the respite was over. The time had come to face hard reality. Maggie rolled her head on the seat back and peeked at Dan through her lashes.

  "I've been thinking that tonight would be a good time to broach the subject of refitting the cannery to Daddy."

  Dan glanced at her. "You sure you want to do that?"

  "No. But it has to be done, and soon. I wanted to spare him this argument, but the company can't wait until he's gon—" She bit her lower lip and looked out the side window. "We can't wait any longer. Unless we increase our production and efficiency we're just going to fall further and further behind. Our accounts are being understanding right now, but if we don't start catching up on the back orders we're going to lose them.

  "There probably won't be a better time than today to approach Daddy. He's feeling a lot better since Dr. Sanderson changed his medication, and he loves holidays and having the family around, so he's sure to be in a good mood.

  "The proposal and cost analyses I put together have been ready to present to him for days now. I've just been too chicken to give them to him, but I can't put it off any longer."

  Dan reached over and squeezed her hand. "He won't like it, but Jacob's a smart man. You've done a thorough job. Once he looks over all the facts and figures, he'd see reason. Just expect some fireworks at first."

  Fireworks didn't come close to describing Jacob's reaction. Explosion was more accurate.

  The entire family, Martin and Laurel included, were gathered in the family room for cocktails when they arrived. Encouraged by Jacob's chipper mood, Maggie decided to seize the moment.

  "Daddy, we need to talk."

  "About what?"

  "About modernizing and refitting the cannery. Now, before you say no, I'd like for you to take a look at these," she said, handing him her proposal and cost analyses. "I've given this a lot of thought and researched it all thoroughly. As you can see, by refitting we can increase our production by forty percent and our efficiency by 62.2 percent."

  Giving the analysis and the production figures merely a cursory scan, Jacob flipped through the papers straight to the bottom line. His eyes bugged out when he found it. "My, God! Have you lost your mind, girl? We can't afford to do this! For the first time in over eighty years Malone's is losing money, and you want me to spend millions? Absolutely not!"

  "Daddy, we don't have any choice. The machinery is falling apart. Dan spends half his time making repairs. And even when everything is working, it's all so slow, compared to modern equipment, that we can't keep up with our orders. If we don't modernize, we're going to go under. It's as simple as that."

  "Is this all that big-shot Harvard degree taught you? Throw money at a problem? Well, the answer is no. We don't have the money for refitting, and I won't borrow."

  "I wasn't suggesting that we do," Maggie said quietly. "I plan to use my own money."

  "Your own—" Jacob stared at her, flabbergasted. He glanced down at the figure on the page. "Are you telling me that you've made this kind of money posing for pictures? I don't believe it."

  "I know it seems incredible, but it's true. Look, Daddy, I'm perfectly willing to finance—"

  "No, that doesn't change anything. I'd sooner borrow from a bank than be indebted to you."

  "Good for you, Jacob," Martin piped up, sending Maggie a gloating look. "You stick to your guns. Things aren't as bad as she's making out. She's just trying to get her hooks into the company any way she can, that's all."

  "That's not true. Daddy, if you'll just read my analysis—"

  "It won't make any difference."

  "But—"

  "Dammit, girl! I am the head of the company and the major shareholder—along with Nan, of course, but she leaves these matters to my judgment. I make these decisions. And my answer is no."

  Maggie's shoulders slumped. She had hoped things wouldn't come to this, but he'd left her with no choice. "No, Daddy, you're not the major shareholder any longer. I am."

  "What? What are you talking about?"

  "I purchased all of Aunt Nan's shares in the company a year and a half ago."

  Jacob's face turned ashen. He slumped back in his recliner as though he'd been shot. Outraged, Martin jumped to his feet and spewed out a string of curses that turned the air blue, while Lily and Maggie's sisters sat as though turned to stone, too astonished to speak.

  Jacob glared at Nan. "Is this true?"

  "Yes, it's true."

  "But the shares are in your trust fund. The stock reports still come to you."

  "The Malone-Endicott Trust is Maggie's. As the executor, I get the reports, but the stock belongs to her."

  "It was all a trick to keep me in the dark! How could you do this to me? My own sister!"

  Tilting her chin, Nan faced her brother's wrath squarely. "I'm sorry you're upset, Jacob, but it was the right thing to do. Maggie is the only one of your children who is qualified to take over the company. At the time of the sale I also felt that she was entitled to her fair share. I still do."

  "The hell she is!" Jacob erupted. "Dammit, that sale was illegal. The stock can only be sold to a family member!"

  Taken aback, Maggie blinked. She glanced around at the others for an answer, but everyone, with the exception of Nan, looked just as perplexed as she felt. "Uh … Daddy, I am a member of this family. Even if you've legally disowned me without notifying me, that doesn't change my bloodline."

  "That's just it.
You aren't my daughter!"

  "Wh-what?" Maggie paled and staggered back a step.

  "What's this?" Martin rubbed his hands together with relish. "Well, well, isn't this an interesting development."

  "Shut your mouth, asshole, or I'll shut it for you," Dan snarled. He stepped close to Maggie and put his arm around her waist. "Easy. Easy, sweetheart."

  Maggie didn't hear him. Nor did she hear Lily's gasp or notice her sudden agitation.

  "Jacob, I don't think now is the time for this," Nan cautioned.

  "Maybe not, but it has to be said." He looked directly at Maggie. "Your mother was raped nine months before you were born."

  "Jacob! How could you? You promised you would never tell anyone. You promised!" Covering her face with her hands, Lily doubled over and began to weep. Laurel and Jo Beth rushed to her side, their faces full of shock and concern.

  Maggie was too stunned to move.

  "I'm sorry, my love," Jacob said, regarding Lily sorrowfully. "You know I wouldn't hurt you for the world if I could help it. I've kept quiet all these years, but I have to speak out now. I can't stand by and let another man's child take over my family's company. You see that, don't you?"

  "Y-you never told me you doubted that Ma-Maggie was y-yours. All th-these years … and I … I ne-never knew."

  "Then I'm not a Malone?" Dazed, Maggie tried to take it in. She felt oddly fragile, as though she might shatter into a million pieces at any moment, like old, brittle glass.

  "Jacob doesn't know that for certain," Nan snapped. "He's just let his anger over what happened to Lily eat at him all these years. There was never any sort of test done to determine paternity, one way or the other."

  "You knew about this? All along, you knew?" Maggie stared at her aunt, feeling the sting of betrayal almost as keenly as Jacob's denouncement.

  "Oh, no! It wasn't like that. I only recently found out. Jacob confided in me shortly after I got here."

  "And you didn't tell me?"

  "Oh, dear, don't look at me that way. I wanted to. Truly, I did. But it wasn't my secret to tell, and Jacob made me promise not to say anything to anyone." Nan reached out her hand. "Please, Maggie."

  "It doesn't matter," Maggie said in toneless voice, and looked away, ignoring the pleading gesture.

  I will not cry. I will not let him see me cry, she told herself fiercely. She felt weak and shaky and sick to her stomach, but she hugged her arms tightly around her middle and held her chin high, determined to get through the nightmare with what little dignity she could salvage.

  She looked at Jacob and attempted a careless chuckle, but to her horror the sound that came from her throat was closer to a sob. "Well, at least now I know why you've always disliked me. Funny, as a kid I thought of dozens of reasons for your coldness—I wasn't pretty enough, or dainty enough, or smart enough. I was too tall, too skinny, my hair was too red, my mouth too big. But it never occurred to me that I wasn't yours, that every time you looked at me you saw some monster's spawn."

  Lily's wails rose to a hysterical pitch, but Jacob frowned.

  "Katherine, it wasn't like that. I never—"

  "No, please don't. Just … don't." Maggie pressed her lips together and looked up at the ceiling, widening her eyes to hold back tears. I will not cry. I will not cry.

  "Actually … I understand. Lord, how you must have hated the sight of me."

  "Katherine, don't. That's not—"

  "Given the situation, I suppose you did the best job of fathering that anyone could expect. I just wish I had known the truth. I wouldn't have wasted the last twenty-seven years trying to win your love." Another pain-filled bark of laughter escaped her, this one bordering on hysteria. "What a hopeless effort that was."

  Dan's hand tightened on Maggie's waist. "Don't do this to yourself, sweetheart."

  Martin fidgeted anxiously. "Why don't I go call the company attorney right away and instruct him to take whatever steps necessary to have that stock sale nullified?"

  "You'd do no such thing," Nan snapped. "She has no right to that stock. Or to run Malone Enterprises."

  "You don't know that. No one does."

  "Then let's find out. Tomorrow I'd see Dr. Lockhart about DNA testing." Maggie looked at Jacob. "I suggest that you and Momma do the same. You should have your answer in a few weeks.

  "If I am not your daughter, I'd step down from Malone Enterprises and return the stock to Aunt … to your sister."

  "Oh, Maggie, don't you know that I'll never stop being your aunt? And you don't have to resign. Jacob and Lily were married when you were conceived and he has acknowledged you as his own all these years. Legally you are a Malone, no matter who fathered you."

  "No, for once I agree with Martin. If I'm not a descendant of Katherine Margaret, I'm not entitled to any share in the company. Or to hold any position in it."

  Nan whirled on Jacob. "Do you see what a mess you've caused? You've hurt and humiliated Lily and Maggie, blurting out that horrible secret in front of everyone. If you had taken my advice and told Maggie the truth you could have handled this whole thing discreetly and in private."

  "I would have if I'd known you sold her those shares behind my back. And as for you," Jacob charged, pointing a finger at Dan. "You're sleeping with Katherine. You should have pried that information out of her before now and reported back to me, like you were supposed to."

  "Dammit, Jacob—"

  "Oh, my God."

  "Maggie, let me explain," Dan began, but she spun away from him and backed away several steps, shaking her head, her hand unconsciously pressed against her heart.

  "You were spying on me. That's why your attitude toward me changed. Why you seduced me. Not because you cared for me, but so you could get close to me and report everything I said and did back to Da—to him?"

  She was reeling like a fighter who'd received a one-two-three punch, but of all the blows she'd taken in the last few minutes, this one was by far the worst. This one threatened to take her to her knees.

  "No, sweetheart, it wasn't like that. You've gotta believe me."

  "What a fool I've been. What a love-starved fool."

  "Maggie, listen to me. I'll admit that in the beginning, before I got to know you, I did agree to keep an eye on you for Jacob. I didn't want the assignment. But how could I refuse? After all he'd done for me I owed him that much. But I swear to you, all my reports to Jacob were made before we became lovers and they were all positive. After that first night we spent together I told him I was through keeping tabs on you. That's the truth, I swear."

  "You used me, betrayed me. Why should I believe anything you say?" She back away another step, shaking her head. "We're finished. Through. I'll have Ida Lou collect my things from the cottage tomorrow."

  "Maggie, I'm begging you, don't do this. I love you, sweetheart."

  "Oh, please." She laughed, a harsh sound full of pain and bitterness. "You can drop the act, Mr. Garrett. You did your job, but it's over now. It's my own fault, really. The day after I arrived you did warn me that you'd do whatever it took to protect Jacob."

  Lily still sobbed quietly on Laurel's shoulder, but everyone else watched them with varying degrees of discomfort and concern, taking in every word. Maggie flashed a strained smile to the group. "Now, if the rest of you will excuse me, I think I'll skip dinner. I'm sure you'll understand that I'm not in the mood to give thanks just now."

  Struggling to hold on to her fragile dignity, she held her chin high and headed toward the door on shaky legs.

  "Maggie, wait!" Dan rushed forward to stop her, but when he tried to grasp her hand she reacted with explosive anger, whirling around and furiously slapping his hands away.

  "Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me again."

  "Maggie, don't. I can't let you do this. Please, sweetheart, we have to talk."

  "No! I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to see you, or even hear your name," she ground out through clenched teeth. "For as long as I remain here you will speak to
me only when necessary, and then only pertaining to business. Is that clear? Otherwise, I will file harassment charges against you."

  When she spun around Ida Lou stood in the arched doorway with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh, child," she said with infinite sadness, and opened her arms wide, as she had done countless times in the past whenever Maggie had fallen and skinned her knees or sustained any sort of hurt.

  This time, though, Maggie shook her head and scooted around the elderly woman. She simply couldn't bear to be comforted. She would splinter into a millions pieces at the first touch.

  * * *

  Seventeen

  « ^ »

  Word of Lily's rape and Maggie's doubtful parentage spread through Ruby Falls like wildfire.

  Maggie had known that the story could not be kept a secret within the family. She was quite certain that Martin had delighted in spreading the word, never mind that in doing so he caused great pain and humiliation to his mother-in-law.

  Wherever Maggie went—in the cannery or the office, in town, people stared. Some gave her pitying looks. Others, less charitable, acted as though she were something that had crawled out from under a rock, and avoided direct eye contact. Still others, like Pauline Babcock and her cohorts, would sniff and assume that smug "I always knew you were a bad seed" expression.

  The weeks while they awaited the results of the DNA testing were tense and uncomfortable for everyone involved. Maggie had thought the period seven years ago after her father had thrown her out was the most miserable life could get, but she was wrong. She felt like an earthquake victim whose world had crumbled around her, moving through her days by rote, functioning somehow, but still dazed and traumatized.

  Heartbroken over Dan's betrayal and riddled with doubts about who she really was, about her place in the family, her right to ran Malone Enterprises, she withdrew from everyone.

  Though she returned to the big house, what little time she spent there she stayed holed up in her room. Her mother and Nan protested and pleaded, but she refused to join the family in the dining room at mealtime. If she ate at home at all it was in the kitchen with Ida Lou. More often than not she merely picked up something at the drive-through of one of the fast-food restaurants in town and ate at her desk while she worked.