by Sandy Huth
The next day, she called Bert and Maryanne and they drove to the estate immediately. Maryanne, now the mother of a baby daughter, Rose, could barely contain her tears as she hugged Rachel and cooed over the baby. Bert, however, was more serious and took the first chance he could to have a quiet conversation with her.
“Where the hell have you been?” he asked as they drew away from the small group of family showering attention on the two new babies.
“I’m sorry, Bert. I know what I did was selfish, but I think I would have died if I had stayed. There was just so much unhappiness here.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I was at the beach house.”
“Where does Bressler enter the picture?”
“He was on sabbatical, spending time in one of the neighboring houses. We met each other walking the beach.”
“So how do we make the jump from beach buddies to marriage?”
“In that setting, with no distractions, we got to know each other very well.”
“Obviously,” he said archly, looking pointedly at David.
“Bert, don’t judge me.” Her tone was sharp.
“I’m not judging you, Rachel, but you leave here less than a year ago, a new widow, to my knowledge embroiled in an affair with Peter-”
“Don’t say his name to me!” she snapped.
“Well, I couldn’t get any more information out of him than I’m getting out of you. When you left us that cryptic note, I really thought that you were headed to New York to be with him. When I contacted him, he claimed that he knew nothing of where you went.”
“On that point, he didn’t lie. Peter and I ended things right before I left. I haven’t spoken to him since.”
“What the hell happened?” he hissed.
“Bert, that’s all ancient history. Please, let me get on with my life. I’m so happy. Can’t you be happy for me?”
He stared at her for long moments, searching her eyes. Finally, he sighed. “Rae, I’m happy for you. I swear it. If this is what you truly want, then I support you.”
She smiled and looked over at Theo holding their son. “How could I not want this? Isn’t he wonderful?”
“Which one?” Bert said ruefully.
Rachel’s smile grew. “Both.”
As Rachel and her family settled in to routine life, Maryanne decided to take a trip to New York. She brought along her maid to watch the children as she made arrangements to meet Peter. She waited patiently in the restaurant, glancing at her watch discreetly. He was late and she wondered if he was going to stand her up. Her relationship with her brother had certainly withered after he had moved to New York. In the past year, she had rarely even talked to him.
“There’s my Annie,” a voice said in her ear and she turned delightedly.
“Peter!” she exclaimed, standing to hug him tightly. “Oh, I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” He pulled away gently and held out her chair. “Sit. I’m sorry I’m late.”
“It’s all right. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“I am, but never too busy for you.” He sat opposite her. “So, to what to I owe the pleasure of your company? Are you here on a shopping trip?”
She nodded slightly. “Of course, but mainly to see you. I barely ever hear from you.”
He motioned to a waiter. The young man came over and took their order promptly. Peter waited until the man left, and then leaned forward on his forearms, a small smile on his face. “How have you been?”
“Wonderful. The children are happy and healthy, Bert is doing well...” She took in his graying temples and new, taut lines around his eyes and mouth. “How’s Blanche?”
He raised his eyebrows, looking away for a moment. “The same. How’s the paper doing?”
“Good. Sales are steady. We…uh…hired a new photojournalist. Theo Bressler.”
Peter’s interest was finally captured. “I’ve seen his work. He’s talented. How did you manage to get him?”
“Rachel hired him.”
Peter picked up his glass and drank deeply, his eyes anywhere but on his sister. “Rachel?”
“Yes, she’s running the paper again and doing a brilliant job with it. She has a lot of plans to modernize it and expand it.”
“I didn’t now she was back. Last I heard from Bert, you still didn’t know where she was.”
“I know. I think Daddy’s death hit her harder than we had assumed. We had no idea where she was for almost a year. We were worried sick, but last month she came back home.”
Peter’s jaw clenched then unclenched, his finger tapping out a rapid rhythm on the table. “Did she say where she’s been?”
“She was at the beach house in South Carolina. She said she spent the time just sleeping and walking…just healing, I think. Anyway, she met Theo there. He was on sabbatical and had a home near ours.” Maryanne took a sip from her water glass. “They became close friends…and, well, they actually got married.”
Peter’s non-reaction spoke volumes. He stared at the pattern on the tablecloth for long minutes, his finger tracing the swirls.
“Peter?” Maryanne reached over and laid her hand on top of his. “Peter, there’s more. Are you all right?”
“Just tell me,” he said tightly.
“They have a baby. A son.”
His jaw was so tight, she worried it might snap. He stood up in a rush. “Excuse me,” he muttered and stalked out of the restaurant.
Maryanne ran after him, finding him leaning on a railing of a bridge overlooking the water. His hands hung loosely, but his back was tense, and his head was dropped.
“Peter,” she whispered. She touched his back gently. “Oh Peter, I’m sorry to hurt you like this, but I thought you should know. When you left for New York, and with Blanche, I wasn’t sure what had happened. Are you still in love with Rachel?”
“What does it matter?” he asked bitterly. “I made my choice and I have to live with the consequences.”
“Why did you leave her? I know that you loved her, loved her enough to leave Blanche and make a life with her. Why did you choose Blanche?”
He turned his head to look at his sister. “I did it to protect Rachel. Blanche was blackmailing me.”
“Because you and Rachel were having an affair? Who cares? You could have weathered that storm. Our circle of friends loves affairs.”
“No, it wasn’t that. Blanche found out something about Rachel and threatened to take it to the police. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“What did she find out?”
“Maryanne…” he hesitated for a moment but then decided to reveal the truth. The burden of knowledge was too heavy to carry alone. “When Helen and Frederick died…did you ever wonder what really happened that night?”
Maryanne looked uncomfortable. “I tried not to think about it. Daddy was found innocent and that’s all that mattered to me. It was an intruder.”
“That’s what we decided we would believe, but we knew it wasn’t true.”
Maryanne shrugged her shoulders. “What does it matter now, Peter? Daddy is gone and if he was guilty-”
“It wasn’t him,” Peter interrupted. “He told me the truth years ago. It was Rachel.”
“What?” Maryanne asked loudly, and then looking around, lowered her voice. “I don’t believe it.”
“I didn’t either, but Norris told me what happened and how he tried to protect her by claiming that he and Rachel had been together that night before the murders. I knew it wasn’t true, because Rachel had been at my apartment. I dropped her off at the house around five. Police estimate that was around the time they were killed.”
“Have you ever asked Rachel about it?”
“No. I guess I didn’t have the courage and in the end, it didn’t really matter to me. Stern had tried to assault her at your wedding and you know how brutal Helen had always been towards her. I figured she snapped that night and it was well-deserved.”
&
nbsp; “Peter, how can you say that? She murdered two people.”
“We don’t know the circumstances,” he argued. “None of us were there. Maryanne, are you willing for Rachel to face charges, to go to trial?”
“Of course not! I’m going to do the same thing you’ve done, protect her,” she said fiercely. “You’re right, we have no idea what happened in that house that night. So, how did Blanche find out?”
“She slept with Leonard and he spilled the beans. When I told her, though, that I wanted a divorce, and that I was leaving her for Rachel, she played her trump card. She knew that I would never let Rachel’s secret be revealed. I took the job in New York to take Blanche away. I didn’t quite trust her that she would uphold her end of the bargain.”
“So Rachel thinks that you and Blanche decided to reconcile. You never told her why you were leaving. Do you know how much that must have hurt her?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do but all I had to do was picture her in prison and that’s what gave me the courage to go through with it.”
He heaved a deep sigh. “Is she happy?”
Maryanne nodded. “She seems happy, Peter. She really does.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a picture. “I brought this for you.”
He took the picture from her and stared at it. He stared at Rachel and Theo, the baby swaddled in blankets in Rachel’s arms, Theo’s arms around the two of them. She did look happy.
“Damn it,” he muttered ashamedly, brushing moisture from the corners of his eyes. “God damn it.”
“I’m sorry,” Maryanne whispered. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said again, “but I thought you would want to see that she finally has the family she has always wanted.”
“No, don’t be sorry. I’m glad she’s happy, Maryanne. I really am. She deserves so much after everything she’s been through.” He tried to hand the picture back to his sister, but she shook her head.
“I brought it for you. Do you want to keep it?”
He looked at the picture one more time, and then shook his head painfully. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” He handed it back to her. “I’ve got to go.”
“No, Peter! I came all this way to see you.”
He held up his hand. “I can’t,” he repeated, his voice thick. “I love you, Annie.” He turned and walked away from her, his hands shoved in his pockets.
Maryanne stayed in the city for a few more days and tried several times to reach Peter, but he didn’t return her calls. She mourned the loss of her relationship with her brother but knew that he had made difficult decisions and it was painful for him to see family. With regret, she left New York with her children. She knew that Peter would not return to them until he was ready.
Chapter 21
“Rae, can we talk?” Rachel looked up from her work, momentarily startled. Theo was at the newspaper office, David was asleep, and Rachel had thought she was alone in the house. Laurie stood there, hands shoved in pockets, looking nervous.
Rachel smiled and waved him into her study. “Of course we can. It’s so good to have you home for good but I have to get used to it. You’ve been gone for so many years, sometimes I forget you’re here.”
Laurie sat in the chair opposite hers at the large oak desk. “It’s good to be home.”
“Things have changed quite a bit since you were home last summer, I know,” she said gently. “But I feel like everything is on the right path now, don’t you? I mean, I have Theo and the baby now and I’m so very happy. I want to make sure that you are, too.”
“I am happy,” he said sincerely. “I mean, as happy as one can be with the tragedies that our family has had to go through.”
Rachel sat back. “We really have never talked about what happened. Do you miss Norris?”
Laurie looked her with a serious but thoughtful expression on his face. “Of course I do. He was my father.”
His words fell like a bomb in the middle of the room. Rachel stared at him then finally said in a deceptively calm voice, “You mean, he was like a father to you.”
“No. He was my father. Rachel, I’ve known for a long time.”
She let out a shaky breath. “How?”
“One time at school, a teacher mistook me for Geoff and everyone had a good laugh about it. Geoff and I were talking at dinner that night and one of our best friends said that everyone talked about how we looked like brothers. It was like someone had taken a blindfold off of our eyes. We stared at each other and it hit us.”
“Did you talk about it?”
“Yes.”
“How did you feel about it?”
He shrugged. “There wasn’t much use in getting upset, was there? Besides, I loved Norris like a father, Geoff like a brother.”
“I know, me too.” Tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she wished she could be like Laurie, innocent to the other secrets Norris had tried to keep from them. “I wish I understood it, though. My memories of Mama and Papa are so happy. They seemed like they loved each other.”
Laurie leaned forward. “Don’t torture yourself over it, Rachel. Just remember our parents in your own way.”
Rachel nodded and brushed away the moisture in her eyes. “So, we’re all set for you to start the university this fall.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve decided to not go to college.”
Rachel drew back in surprise. “Of course you will. We need you at the newspaper and I need a business mind. That’s you. You’re so brilliant.”
“I don’t want to work at the newspaper.”
“You love the newspaper!” she objected. “You’ve always loved working there.”
“I did,” he agreed, “but it’s not what I want to do with my life.”
“Well, what on earth do you want to do?”
“I’m going to go to St. Gregory’s Seminary.”
She stared at him, her jaw dropped. “You’re what?”
“I’m going to become a priest.”
She shook her head as if to clear the cobwebs. “Laurie, are you crazy? You can’t become a priest.”
“Why not?” he asked calmly.
“Well…because…I don’t know! Why do you want to be a priest?”
“I believe I’m being called to do it.”
“By whom?” she shot back.
He smiled then. “By God.”
His words stopped her cold. “Oh, Laurie…” she breathed. “Do you really mean it?”
“I do. It’s something that I have felt for a long time. I have prayed about it and spoke with people about and I truly feel that this is my purpose.”
“But…you’ll never be able to marry or to have children. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“My parish will be my family.”
She bit the corner of her lip. “Things will be different between us.”
“No they won’t,” he insisted. “I will be your brother forever.”
“But you’ll belong to other people. You’ll belong to God.”
“I’ve always belonged to God.”
Rachel raised her eyes to look at him ruefully. “See, you’re already talking like a priest. Will I be able to swear around you?”
He laughed then and came around the desk to hug her. “Swear as much as you like. I’ll pray for your soul.”
She mockingly slapped his shoulder and hugged him hard. “I just want you to be happy. Will this do it?”
“Yes,” he said with conviction. He seemed calmly purposeful and she knew that there was nothing she could say to sway him. “This is exactly what I want.”
“Then you have my blessing.” She kissed his cheek. “I don’t have to call you Father, do I?”
“Only if you want to avoid Hell,” he teased.
Her eyes grew serious. “You’ll never leave me, will you?”
“Never,” he promised. “You and me against the world, right?”
“Right,” she whispered and hugged him again
. For so many years, she had felt the need to take care of Laurie and protect him from the hurts and pains of the world. She needed to accept that he was now a man with a sure path. A heavy weight had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders and she was at peace with his decision.
Chapter 22
The next few years flew by with the newspaper taking most of Rachel’s time. She poured her energy into the paper, making it a respected and widely distributed media source. Having Theo as the lead photojournalist was a feather in her cap and he was often on the road, travelling to the story. She believed that she and Theo were a power couple and felt respected by the community for the first time since she had come to live at the Thornton estate.
Bert closed his private practice and came to work at the paper as counsel and her right hand man in the daily operations. Many a night, she and Bert sat in her office studying balance sheets with one hand and potential stories with the other. Maryanne good-naturedly complained that she had lost her husband to a mistress called the Ohio Valley Herald .
Theo was not as easy-going about the amount of time Rachel spent at the office and she tried to explain to him how the paper gave her the identity that she had desperately been searching for. She reminded him that he spent days, if not weeks, away from home with his work but he was stubborn in his belief that it was different for a man.
“You’re a mother now,” he had pointed out.
“David is in good hands,” Rachel had argued. “He’s with Maryanne and his cousins during the day and then goes home with you or me at night. He’s perfectly happy.”
Theo had smiled, not wanting to fight with her, but the smile had not quite reached his eyes. Rachel had known when she married him that he believed strongly in motherhood but she had also thought that he respected her position at the newspaper. She couldn’t help feeling that he was very disappointed in her.
Just a few days after David’s second birthday, Matthew Bressler made his appearance. Rachel fell in love immediately with the adorable baby boy who appeared to be a sweet mixture of her and Theo, and was good-natured as well. When Matthew was a month old, she returned to work much to Theo’s chagrin.
“Theo,” she said in a pleading voice. “I have a newspaper to run. I’m bringing Matthew with me, just like I did with David, for the first few months.”