“I think that's part of the problem. When I bailed on Jules it put a little fracture in her trust for me. When she found out I'd been hiding all of this from her the crack got a little bigger. My mother is great at finding those cracks and turning them into canyons. A lot of this is my fault. I should have just told Jules from the beginning about my family. If I had she’d be in here right now helping us get the hell out of here." Michael ran his hands through his hair feeling completely exhausted.
“I can't disagree with you there. It'll be a fine day when all of you finally start just telling each other everything right out of the gate. Half our heartaches wouldn't exist if you did. Now go on and get done whatever you need to. I'm going to get this baby eating and hopefully ready to leave Sunday morning when that party is all done and behind us."
“I'm really glad you’re here, Betty,” Michael admitted with a warm smile.
“Just think of me like a bad penny, always turning up.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Piper said, and she, Bobby and Michael crept out of the nursery.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“She’s looking more like herself this morning,” Betty said as she rubbed her tired eyes. Jules had told her a hundred times she didn’t need to spend the entire night in the nursery, but her mother would not be swayed. She sat vigil by Frankie’s crib, dozing lightly in the rocking chair and checking on her temperature often. “She hasn’t been warm all night. I haven’t felt a fever since I got here.”
“She does look more alert this morning. Maybe her ears are doing better. Thanks for watching her last night. I felt better knowing you were here.” Jules still felt a prickly frustration with everyone’s pessimistic attitude, but there was no denying having her mother around brought her some comfort that she couldn’t get anywhere else in the world. But wasn’t that the problem?
“It’s just you and me here, girl. You want to talk to me more about what’s going on with you? I know there has to be more to this than just you thinking Michael’s mother can be better than she is.”
“I think something might be wrong with me,” Jules blurted out, biting at her lip to try to combat the tears, but they came anyway. There was something about having her mother within arm’s reach that made it impossible not to open up.
“There isn’t a damn thing wrong with you, sweet child. You’re my daughter. I made you. You’re perfect. Me and God, we don’t make mistakes.” Betty placed Frankie back in her crib for a moment and pulled her daughter in for a hug.
“I’m really sad all the time, Ma. Like really sad. I’m crying most nights, just sitting alone wondering what’s wrong with me. I’m screwing all of this up. I thought by now I’d feel better, that I’d be a better mother, but I’m not. I’m failing her and Michael. I can’t even get the dishes done some days. I can’t even nurse her. I have to pump and give her a bottle because I couldn’t even do that right. I forget everything, and Frankie has no routine. I can’t get her down at the same time every night. I read all these articles and by her age I should be doing all these things with her. I should be teaching her all these things and I’m not. I don’t know how.” Jules was in a full out sob as she tried to string her words together. Anyone other than Betty likely would have stopped her by now, complaining they couldn’t understand her, but her mother spoke this language fluently. She’d been learning it her entire life, raising Jules. “What if she turns out all wrong? What if Michael can’t deal with the house being a mess or that I can’t make dinner? That’s why I thought he left, you know. I thought he finally figured he could do better than what I was giving him. I’ve barely been a wife lately, and I’m struggling to keep my head above water as a mom. Those are my only two jobs and I’m not doing either of them well.”
“I wish you’d have said something to me,” Bettys said, wiping away a tear of her own.
“How could I? How do you tell the best mother in the world that you can’t handle being one yourself? Every single night growing up you had dinner on the table. You and Dad spent so much time just being in love. You got everything done. You were perfect. You’re still perfect. Look at all the people you mother. How do I face you and tell you I’m not sure what I’m doing?”
“Your memories are from when you were in school, not as a baby. You don’t remember the nights I spent begging for some kind of break. We ordered so much pizza the first year after you were born they knew our order by heart. Do you know you fell off my bed? You rolled right onto the floor and landed with a thump I can still hear right now; it’s etched into my brain and will be there forever. And nursing? You were on formula for the same reason. You and I just couldn’t figure it out together, and I figured it was better you eat rather than us keep driving each other nuts for something that wasn’t happening. I made so many mistakes with you. There are still days I can’t believe you survived my failures and came out so wonderful.”
“I didn’t know that. I just assumed you always had everything figured out the way you do now.”
“I don’t have everything figured out now. I still make plenty of mistakes. Like the way I told Clay not to come out here because you aren’t his daughter. I didn’t mean it the way I said it, but I also didn’t take it back either. I know I hurt him, but I left it there between us. Your old mama still makes plenty of mistakes. I do my share of crying over them too. I’m sorry if I didn’t make it clear you could come to me with this. I’m always here for you. You haven’t done anything wrong.” Betty smoothed down Jules’s hair and hugged her so tight she felt her loose pieces fitting back together, even if for only a moment.
“I think that’s why I’m pushing so hard for Michael to forgive his mother. I don’t want to believe anyone can truly act that way toward her child. I need to believe there is hope for them because I’m afraid one day Frankie is going to feel the same way about me and she might not forgive me for my failures.”
“I think that’s why God makes babies forget. You can’t be expected to get all this right on the first try. No one tells you how hard it’s going to be and how different you feel from what you thought you would. But it does sound like you’ve got more than just the baby blues. I think you need to talk to someone.”
“I don’t want people to know I’m not doing a good job. If they think I’m not happy being a mom then they’ll look at me differently.”
“With any other group of people I might agree with you. I’m not sure you know it yet, but this little bunch here isn’t average. They won’t judge you. They’ll help you. We can call Josh when we get back to Edenville. He loves you, and he’ll know where to start.” Betty looked down at Frankie who’d rolled herself into a sitting position and was smiling up at them. “She is definitely feeling better.”
“Thank goodness,” Jules said as she scooped her daughter up and kissed her neck in the way that always produced a giggle.
“Mrs. Cooper,” Nicolette interrupted with a little knock on the doorframe. “I thought the baby might be hungry. I warmed some of your milk for her.”
“Thank you, Nicolette. She seems so much better this morning. Almost back to her old self.” Jules forced a smile and hoped Nicolette could ignore her wet eyes.
Nicolette nodded, handed over the bottle, and backed out of the room silently and obediently.
“I’ll give her the bottle. You go ahead and get a hot shower, and I’ll meet you for breakfast.” Betty took Frankie back and settled into the rocking chair.
“Are you sure you want to eat breakfast with everyone? I know you don’t like Michael’s mother but I don’t want to make things any worse then they are.”
“Believe it or not I am very good at biting my tongue. Just because I don’t normally choose to do it doesn’t mean I don’t know how.”
“Thank you, Ma,” Jules croaked as the tears came again. “For everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“God’s too smart to let us find out.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“What a
lovely dining room,” Betty said with a smile, and Jules felt a small ripple of relief flow over her. Her mother was trying. That meant something to her. It wasn’t easy for Betty to keep her true opinions to herself.
“Thank you, it’s due for a renovation again. I like to keep things fresh and have it redesigned every couple years.” Tabitha took the napkin from her glistening porcelain plate and placed it across her lap. “Now, I’ve had the cook put together a lovely breakfast this morning. I’m so glad to see little Frankie feeling better.”
“She just took a whole bottle,” Betty explained as Piper, Bobby, and Lindsey entered the dining room and took their seats around the long table. The staff was buzzing around and Jules could see her mother’s eyes following them around the room.
As a young woman with her hair pulled into a bun and pinned in place offered Betty her choice of drinks, Jules could sense something was about to happen. “I’ll just have water, dear,” Betty replied as she warmly touched the woman’s mocha-colored arm. “Tell me, where are you from? I love your accent. It’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. I’m from the Dominican Republic, Miss,” the woman answered obediently as she tried to quickly step away, but Betty caught her arm gently.
“I’ve always wanted to go there. I hear it has the most amazing blue water. What’s your favorite thing about it there?” Betty’s look of sincere interest had the woman warming for a moment, until her eyes darted up and met Tabitha’s.
“It’s hard to miss anything when I live in a wonderful place such as this.”
“But the food, there must be food you don’t have the chance to eat up here. I’d love to travel the world and try food from every nation. What would I have if I went to the Dominican Republic?”
Unable to deflect the question or hold back her excitement to answer it, the young woman lit with a smile. “My mother makes the best smoked herring. I still dream about them sometimes at night and wake up hungry. Her secret was leeks.”
“I’ll have to have you scratch down that recipe if you’d consider sharing it. I own a restaurant, and I’m always searching for new items for the menu. What’s your name, dear? Maybe we’ll name it after you.”
“I’m Gloria, and I’d be happy to write that down for you. It would be an honor for you to serve it in your restaurant.”
Betty extended her hand and Gloria looked as though she wasn’t sure why. “I’m Betty. It’s a pleasure to meet you. If you have time after breakfast I’d like to hear more about where you are from.”
“That might be difficult since she’ll be scraping food off dishes and then going to make up the bedrooms,” Tabitha interjected.
“Yes, of course, ma’am,” Gloria said as she scurried away.
“We try not to treat the staff that way. It sets a poor precedence.” Tabitha tapped her mug and gestured for more coffee.
“I’m sorry about that,” Betty countered. “I do have a nasty habit of treating people like human beings. I’m trying to cut that out.”
“That’s likely because you’ve never had to manage a staff before. If you start talking to them that way they’ll walk all over you. Before you know it they’re asking for time off to visit that country you talk to them about, or they’re stealing right under your nose.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Betty said, nodding in agreement. “You know what they say, kindness breeds evil.”
“Who says that?” Bobby asked, and Jules cursed him for being oblivious to the obvious sarcasm and making this moment last any longer than necessary.
“A moron,” Betty replied curtly as she backed her chair away from the table. “I suddenly don’t feel very hungry. I think I’ll take a walk.”
“Ma, please,” Jules begged as she took the plate of tiny pieces of toast and lay them out in front of Frankie.
“Jules,” Piper suggested, with a look like she was scrambling to change the subject, “I bet your mother hasn’t seen the fountain out back. I’ll walk with her.”
A moment later they were out the door and the dining room was absent of any chatter. The only noises were the clanking of forks and clearing of throats.
Finally Bobby broke the awkwardness, unfortunately with a question that only made it worse. “Where is Michael?”
“He’s working,” Jules answered flatly. The real answer was that he was scanning all the documents to officially file them.
The dining room door swung open as Spencer, the gala’s concierge, walked in. “Mrs. Cooper, this just arrived for you. I think you should open it right away.”
Tabitha shot to her feet. “And is Josephine here yet?”
“She’s just pulled in,” Spencer said with a wicked smile.
“What perfect timing. Have her meet me in her father’s office. I need to see her immediately.”
“What’s going on?” Jules asked, feeling a vice tighten around her heart. “Is it about the party?”
“It’s family business,” Tabitha said coolly as she stepped out of the dining room and left them all looking around in confusion.
“What do you think that was about?” Lindsey asked, leaning nearer to Bobby.
“I’m guessing some last ditch effort to keep Michael here doing what she wants him to do.”
“Should I be worried?” Jules asked, biting at her lip nervously.
“Yes,” Lindsey shot back until Bobby gave her a sideways look. “But I’m sure it’ll be fine.
“That’s not very convincing,” Jules said as she pushed away the plate of food that had been laid before her.
“You don’t have anything to worry about, Jules. Michael has this all under control and we’re all here together. We’re not going to let anything happen. You know how we are in these situations.”
“I’m starting to think Tabitha is an entirely different situation than anything we’ve dealt with before.” Jules ran a hand over her daughter’s wispy hair and down her cheek.
“And I’m guessing we’re entirely different than anything she’s ever dealt with before. It’ll be fine.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Mother, I don’t really have time for you to sit in here and stare at me. I’m in the middle of something.” Michael wished the look in his mother’s eye wasn’t getting to him, but it was. She looked downright victorious and that wasn’t something she would fake.
“We’re just waiting for your sister. She needs to hear this too. And don’t worry if it keeps you from sending those papers. After this you won’t need to.” Tabitha patted the large envelope on her lap and smiled.
“What is this about?” Josephine asked as she stepped into the office and read the tension stewing there.
“This is about Michael stopping this nonsense about dismantling our fortune and our future. This ends today.”
“Mother, I think we’ve covered this pretty extensively. I’m not staying here. Dad left everything to me, and I’m not continuing the mess he made. Now if you’ll both excuse me I need to get these documents scanned and emailed.”
“Well then you better give your sister a kiss because this might be the last time you aren’t separated by bars.” Tabitha split open the envelope and pulled out a small stack of paperwork.
“Mother?” Josephine asked as the blood drained from her face. “What are you talking about?”
“You killed your father. The proof is right here. I’ve been waiting for the report, trying like hell to stall your brother, and now it’s finally here.” The joy on her face was scary.
“He died of a heart attack,” Michael scoffed.
“No, he died from head trauma. The heart attack wasn’t the cause of death. He had quite the hit to the side of the head.”
“So he hit his head on the desk after falling over from the heart attack. What does that have to do with Jo?” Michael was trying to keep his face stern but his nerves were raging.
“Everything,” Josephine whispered as her legs shook and she braced herself against the wall.
“W
hat are you talking about?” Michael asked, his anxiety welling up to a level he thought he might drown in.
“I found out, Michael. I knew what he was trying to do to me. I was going to be his scapegoat. He set me up, and I could have gone to jail for the things he had me do. I was furious.”
“You knew what he had done? Why didn’t you tell me that? You were walking around talking about Dad like he was still your hero.” Michael ran his hands through his hair with exasperation.
“Mother told me it would be better if I didn’t tell you what had happened. She said it had been so long since we’d seen you we didn’t know if you would just turn me in. She promised me she’d handle everything.”
“Oh I’m handling it,” Tabitha smirked.
“Tell me what happened, Jo,” Michael begged.
“I found out he was using me to essentially rob people and steal from the government. There was inside trading and all sorts of things with my name all over them. I came in here and confronted him. I grabbed the first thing I saw and hurled it at him. It was that trophy he had from the polo match he won in college. It was so heavy, and it hit him right in the head. He fell out of his chair and on to the floor. I screamed for help. By the time the ambulance came Mother had already picked up the trophy and hid it. They just assumed he’d had a heart attack because of his history and hit his head on the way down. But he didn’t. I killed him.”
“Where is the trophy now?” Michael asked, thinking exclusively as a lawyer for a moment.
“I have it,” Tabitha explained looking very proud of herself. “It’s somewhere very safe just waiting for the moment to turn it over to the police if that becomes necessary. It won’t be hard for them to match it up to your father’s injuries,” she turned her gaze on Josephine, “or find your fingerprints on it.”
Battling Destiny (The Piper Anderson Series Book 6) Page 15