by Robin Kaye
Her mother tortured people who showed any emotion. Her father never showed any—probably for self- preservation. Becca grew up thinking he had no feelings, never knowing he’d kept them hidden all this time.
Today something snapped and made it impossible for him to disguise his feelings. Maybe he finally saw all he’d lost. She wasn’t sure, but whatever caused his display of emotion made her want to help him for the first time since she was a little girl. Her parents had deserted her and Chip when they needed them most. Maybe not physically or monetarily, but emotionally they’d left them alone to deal with all life threw at them, and life threw a hell of a curve ball.
“Daddy, you’re speeding.”
He stared straight ahead, the stress evident on his face. “Do you have the address?”
“Yes. I programmed it in the GPS. Remember?”
“I know, but she probably lives in an apartment. I need the apartment number.”
“What you need to do is call. Showing up unannounced isn’t a good idea. It’ll be a shock. Besides, how do you know she’ll even be home?”
“Becca, either way it’s going to be a shock. If Mike hasn’t spoken to her yet, then maybe she’ll listen to me. If he’s already spoken to her, chances are… I don’t know. I haven’t set eyes on her in thirty-three years. I used to know what she was thinking. I used to know what she was going to say before she said it. Now, I don’t know anything. All I know is I need to see her, and I need to make sure Mike is okay. If she’s not there, I’ll wait outside her door for as long as it takes.”
“He probably went to the hospital. From what Annabelle said, he practically lives there.”
“Her again?”
“Yes, Daddy. Annabelle is my best friend. She never did anything to deserve the way you and mother treated her. Why can’t you see that? Mother was so afraid of losing her Queen of the Castle status, she tried to drive Annabelle and every other woman Chip dated away. Not that any woman in her right mind would want to share a residence with Mother, there is no estate large enough if you ask me.”
“She was living with him on his dime.”
“If she was after the money, why didn’t Annabelle marry Chip when he’d asked her? Chip knew he was dying, he had nothing more to lose, and she would eventually get the money. He offered to marry her. She refused not because she didn’t love him, but because she didn’t want to prove you and Mother right. She didn’t want a cent from either of you or the estate.”
Well, that got him thinking. “Annabelle worked. That money in their joint account you and Mother took was money she earned and had saved for school. Chip was cheap as hell. He paid half the bills. She took care of everything else. You left her penniless. I had to give her train fare back to Brooklyn. Why did you think it was a year before I spoke to you again? I only did that because I had to.”
He took his eyes from the road and stared at her. She’d hit the target she never knew existed. She never thought he’d even noticed she’d disappeared from his life for a year. He reached over and squeezed her hand.
“You know Mother. People like her believe everyone is as vengeful as they are. She expected Annabelle to behave as she did when she was in the same situation. How long were you married before she made life so miserable for Uncle Aaron, Aunt Carol, and their kids that they left the family estate?”
No need to answer, because his expression told the story. Shame. Pain. Embarrassment.
It was past time she told him what she thought and cleared the air. She was an adult, and she no longer needed her parents. She hadn’t in years. “All Annabelle ever did to Chip was love and care for him. Believe me, Daddy, Chip was not an easy person to love. He was brought up to think the sun and moon revolved around him. He was spoiled, and thanks to you and Mom, he had a warped view of love.” Becca drew her sweater around her, either the air conditioner or her father froze her out. “It took Annabelle a long time to get over Chip. She loves Mike now, and whether or not he admits it, Mike loves her. He wanted to marry her. If you make him choose between you and Annabelle, you better believe he’s going to choose her.” If he ever gets his head out of his ass. “This is the second time someone in my family broke Annabelle’s heart. She should have told Mike about Chip, but who could blame her for not wanting to see history repeat itself.”
“If we were so off base, why didn’t Chip say anything? Why didn’t she?”
“Chip was more concerned about losing his trust than he was about her. Annabelle was eighteen. She was a child when she allowed you and Mother to treat her so badly. She’s a grown woman now, and she’s strong. She’d rather let the man she loves go and keep her dignity and self-respect. She’ll never again allow anyone to treat her as if she were a second-class citizen. That’s why she’s not fighting for Mike. She doesn’t want to come between him and this so-called family.”
Becca crossed her arms, pulled her leg under her, and turned her back to the door so she faced her father. “Mother was always a monster, and you allowed her to treat Annabelle like that. That makes you as guilty as she is.”
“I never… I guess I didn’t realize.”
“No, Daddy. Be honest. It was easier to allow Mother to destroy Annabelle than it would have been to go against your wife and put yourself in the line of fire. There was nothing in it for you. You two led separate lives, and as long as Mother left you alone, you didn’t concern yourself with the people she targeted… until you found out that she was behind the whole marriage announcement, and you and Mike’s mom were her first victims. That’s when you divorced her. That was the only thing she’d done to anyone you cared enough about to retaliate.”
“When did you get so smart?”
She laughed in relief. “Brains were never lacking in our gene pool, just humanity.”
“Not with you it wasn’t.”
“Ha. I just learned a lesson early on, and all the years of therapy you and Mother insisted I needed helped, too.”
He shot her a cocky grin, making him look much younger than his sixty years. It made him look surprisingly like Mike.
“Hey, after a few years of messing with my therapists’ heads, I decided to turn my punishment into a gift. I got my head on straight.”
He grinned again.
“Okay, as straight as it can be, considering.”
“I’ve always admired your spunk, Rebecca. You’ve grown up to be quite a ballbuster. I really like that about you.”
“Except when I use it against you.”
“Even then. Yesterday, you purposely showed off your piercing and your tattoo when you knew I couldn’t say a word about it. That was the plan, wasn’t it?”
Busted. “Of course. Pushing your buttons is something of a hobby of mine. It’s nice to get a reaction from you.”
“I’m sorry you feel the need to resort to shock to get my attention.”
Is that what she’d done? Damn, maybe she wasn’t so smart after all.
Lost in thought, she considered what her father said and what she wanted from him. She’d all but given up on both of her parents, but today, for the first time in years, she saw a glimmer of hope. Maybe a seminormal relationship with her father was possible after all.
“This neighborhood sure has changed. When I lived down here, it was like a war zone.”
She was surprised to see they were already in Brooklyn. “Why did you live here then?”
“It was all I could afford at the time. I wasn’t old enough to get my trust fund, and your grandparents didn’t think any son of theirs should go into medicine. That’s why they started the grandfather trust. They threatened me with it, and I told them to go to hell. Sometimes you remind me of myself when I was still young and idealistic. I was going to save the world.”
“What happened?”
“I lost Colleen. I honestly didn’t think I could go on. After two years I gave up. That was the worst night of my life. After a night of drinking myself into a stupor, I awoke with your mother—”
&nbs
p; “She got pregnant, and you did the right thing.”
“That’s when I learned that sometimes good things come from bad decisions. I got you and Chip. I can’t regret that. But I’m not sure I did the right thing by marrying your mother. I don’t think I did you and Chip any favors. I’m sorry.”
He parked the car on a side street. It was almost six in the evening, and he slid out of the car and looked around.
“I used to live in that building over there.” He pointed to a four-story brownstone.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It wasn’t then. It had been broken up into studio apartments. The pipes rattled, there was no hot water, and more often than not, no heat, but I can’t remember a time I was ever happier. I think Colleen’s place is just up the block.”
Becca followed her father into a simple brick apartment building. He took a deep breath as he read the list of residents. A woman with two children in a stroller left the building. Her dad held the door for the woman and walked in without announcing himself. “Come on.”
“Dad, I really think we should ring her apartment.”
“So she could tell me to go to hell over a speaker? I don’t think so. It’s much harder to reject someone standing in front of you, and I’ll take any advantage I can get. I’m going up. You can wait out in the car if you’d like. I’d actually prefer it.”
“Not on your life.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
Chapter 19
CHRISTOPHER LARSEN ENTERED COLLEEN’S BUILDING with Becca following fast on his heels. He hit the button for the elevator, and when that took too long, he took the stairs two at a time to the third floor. He scoped out the apartment and knocked. When no one answered, he knocked again.
“Coming.”
The locks tumbled; the deadbolt rolled. “Michael, did you forget your key?” The door swung open, and then there was dead silence.
Becca felt as if she were watching a play. Her father stood tall, his hands in his pockets, something she’d never seen him do. He was fastidious about his clothes. Standing with your hands in your pockets stretched out the material, and maybe hid one’s nervousness.
Colleen Flynn was beautiful. Reddish blonde hair, petite, with gorgeous gray eyes wide with surprise. Mike had his mother’s eyes.
“Colleen.”
She held the door like a lifeline, swallowed, and pasted on a smile that was more nervous than sincere. “Christopher.”
The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Becca could only guess the silent conversation going on between them. And there was definitely one going on. Becca coughed, breaking the connection. She waited for her father to introduce her, but he didn’t. She smiled and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Rebecca Larsen.”
Colleen shook Becca’s hand without once taking her eyes off Christopher.
“Oh, I’m sorry, please come in. I was just in the kitchen. I have a roast in the oven. My son called and wanted some comfort food. He’s upset.”
Christopher took a step toward her. “He told you?”
Becca had never heard his voice sound like that. Deep, full of uncertainty and something else she really didn’t care to think about.
“No. I didn’t ask while he was working. Michael tells me things in his own time. He’s a grown man, after all. Now, isn’t he?”
Becca’s dad nodded. “He’s a fine man.”
“And how would you know?”
“I spent much of the day with him.”
“Did you, now? I suppose it was your practice where Michael interviewed.”
“Colleen.”
She held up her hand. “Why don’t you come in so we’re not airing the dirty laundry out in the hallway?”
Becca’s temper started to boil. “There is no dirty laundry.”
Colleen looked from Becca to Christopher. “I see your daughter has your temper.”
Christopher nodded. “And our son has yours.”
“Touché.”
The woman had a lovely, soft Irish accent. She looked a little pale, but if Becca hadn’t seen the color leave her face, she’d never guess Colleen had just had the shock of her life.
Colleen closed the door and showed them into her apartment. It was nice—normal. Nothing like the monstrosity where Becca grew up and her father still lived. Colleen’s home was comfortable and warm. The scent of pot roast and homemade bread filled the small apartment, and Becca found herself relaxing.
“I’ll fix a pot of tea, and you can tell me why my son is upset.”
She pointed them to the dining room table, large enough for four, nothing like the table that sat thirty in the main dining room or the one that sat fourteen in the family dining room. Becca sat at the highly polished table and imagined Colleen doing normal things like cleaning her own home and polishing the furniture.
Her father didn’t sit at the table, but followed Colleen to the kitchen. She began to wonder what in the world she was doing there as she watched him stop right behind Colleen, place his hands on her shoulders, and speak so softly Becca wasn’t sure if she heard him correctly. She’d never heard him sound afraid.
“You must hate me.”
Colleen wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “How could I hate you when you’ve given me the one person I love most in this world? I’ve never hated you.”
“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“Misunderstanding? Is that what you call it now?” She had fire in her eyes. “You were engaged, Christopher. You cheated, and you call that a misunderstanding?” What started out as an Irish lilt became more pronounced.
He shook his head. “My family wanted me to marry Bitsy. I never wanted that. I should have stood up for myself and said no earlier. I let them think what they wanted. I never cheated on you. Not once. Don’t you understand?”
“No, you cheated with me. You turned my love for you into something ugly.”
“I wasn’t engaged. Not really. That was just something our parents cooked up. I went home that week to end it. I refused to let it go any further. I wasn’t anything but madly in love with you.”
“But I saw that engagement announcement in the society pages. My mother saw it.”
“I’m so sorry. Bitsy and our parents ran it after I ended the sham of an engagement. I had nothing to do with it.”
Colleen shook her head. “But why would anyone ever do such a thing?”
Becca knew the answer to that. “Because she saw her meal ticket getting away. Unfortunately, stunts like that are typical of my mother.”
“I loved you. In my heart I was engaged to you and only you. When I saw the announcement, I came back to find you gone. I was frantic. Your parents said you’d gone back to Ireland and were married. That you’d married someone they approved of. I didn’t marry Bitsy until 1980, and I only did that because—”
Becca interrupted. “Mother got him drunk, took advantage of him, and got pregnant with Chip and me. Dad did the right thing.”
“There are two of you?”
He nodded. “Bitsy had the twins. We divorced a few years ago after my son died.”
“Oh, Christopher.”
Somehow, he and Colleen ended up in each other’s arms. Becca wasn’t sure when that happened, but the two fell into it so naturally, she felt like a voyeur who needed to give them some space. “Dad, I’m going to go and get something I left in the car. I’ll be back in a while.” Neither heard her. They were so wrapped up in each other. She figured she didn’t have much of a chance to get the keys to the car, so she decided to take a walk, and while she did, she’d call Annabelle to find out how miserable she was.
She pulled her cell out of her purse and speed-dialed Annabelle.
“It’s about time you called. I’ve been leaving messages for you all day.”
“Honey, your day can’t be as eventful as mine. Wait till you hear what happened.”
“Wanna bet? Ben just proposed to me.”
&
nbsp; “Proposed what?”
“Marriage.”
“Okay, you got me beat. You told him no, right?” There was silence on the line. “Annabelle, tell me you said no.” Silence again. Shit. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I didn’t say yes… I said I’d think about it.”
“You’d think about it? What are you nuts? You’re in love with my brother, you nitwit! What is it with you and getting engaged to men you don’t actually want to marry? You don’t love Ben. Why in the hell would you even consider marrying a man you don’t love—again? Wasn’t once enough?”
“It would only be temporary, and Ben needs me. It’s a long story, but he’s got less than a year to get married, and well, he wants to marry someone he can trust not to fall in love with him and confuse the situation.”
“The only person confused in this situation is you. If you accept Ben’s proposal, Mike is going to freak. He’s already on edge. Daddy handed over the trust and the keys to the castle right before he mistakenly called him Chip.”
“Oh God. He didn’t.”
“Yes, he did, which is why I’m standing about ten blocks from your place. I drove up with Dad because he was so upset. He came up unannounced to talk to Mike’s mom, whom he hasn’t seen in thirty-three years.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Hell no, I’m not. Let me tell you, there is some strong mojo zinging back and forth between them. I haven’t seen chemistry like that since the day I burned magnesium and accidentally set my lab partner on fire. Daddy’s still got it. He showed up on her doorstep, and when I left the apartment, neither of them noticed.”
“That’s great. I’m so happy for all of you. Maybe things will work out, and you’ll be like a richer version of the Brady Bunch or something.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“You and Mike can finally have the family the both of you always wanted. I’m really happy for you.”
“Which is why you sound so miserable.”
“I’m fine… or I will be eventually. At least I was right. The important thing is that you and Mike are happy.”