by Nesly Clerge
Garrett pressed Off. He grabbed his keys and rushed to the elevator. In minutes he was in his car, foot pressed hard on the accelerator.
CHAPTER 121
Garrett’s chest heaved with breaths that came in rapid, ragged intervals. He turned into a convenience store lot, put his car in Park, and attempted to get himself under control. He pulled up the photos on his phone.
He’d hated learning that Chelsea had been confiding in Richard. Hated learning they’d both kept that from him. Hated that his mother had known. But it explained why Richard knew as much as he did about his and Chelsea’s relationship. Why hadn’t he figured it out before?
But this?
It was inexcusable. Nearly incestuous.
Did they talk about him before or after they had sex?
Did Chelsea compare the techniques of all her lovers, or did she just enjoy their differences?
Richard—acting holier than thou, all the while betraying him. This was the ultimate disloyalty, and he wasn’t going to put up with it. What had been cleverly kept secret was about to be revealed.
More questions flooded his mind. There was only one way to get answers. He put his car in gear, leaving tire marks on the pavement.
CHAPTER 122
Richard’s car was in the driveway. Garrett parked behind it, blocking any opportunity for his bastard of a brother to run. He rushed to the front door, turned the knob. Locked. Forget using his key. He pounded on the door with one hand and repeatedly pressed the doorbell with the other.
Richard flung open the door. “What’s happened? Are you okay? Anna said you called looking for me and hung up without saying goodbye.”
“You sonofabitch.” Garrett aimed his fist for Richard’s jaw. Richard dodged. The hit connected with Richard’s shoulder.
Theresa hurried toward them from the kitchen. She grabbed Garrett by the arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Garrett lunged at his brother.
Thomas rushed down the stairs. “Stop this right now. Have you lost your mind, son? Whatever the problem is, we’re going to sit down and discuss it.” He pointed to the living room. “Now, Garrett.”
Garrett stomped into the room and dropped heavily into a chair a few feet from the fireplace. Thomas sat on the sofa. Richard eased warily into the chair across from Garrett.
Theresa said to Richard, “I’m going to get something to ice your shoulder with. I’ll be right back.” She returned moments later with a frozen bag of peas. “Now, Garrett, you’d better have a good explanation for what you did.”
“Better than good.” Garrett glared at Richard and started to speak. He told them about Eric Eisenberg—all of it. He told them about Luke Thompson. He held up his phone, displaying the photo of Chelsea and Richard entering the hotel. “You met my wife at a hotel.”
“You had her followed?”
“Did you meet her there more than once?”
“Yes, but let me—”
“Over a few years?”
Richard stood up. “Calm down, Garrett. Let me explain.”
Garrett tossed his phone to the floor and launched at Richard.
Richard tried to block the punches to his torso that came hard and fast. “Garrett, for God’s sake, let me explain what—”
Garrett’s fist landed in the center of Richard’s chest. Richard buckled over and collapsed. The sickening crack of his head hitting the raised marble hearth brought everything to a halt.
CHAPTER 123
Garrett stood with his fists raised and ready. There was only a little blood on the marble. “Get up, Richard. I’m not done with you.”
Theresa grabbed Thomas’ arm. “Why isn’t he moving?”
Thomas ran to Richard. “Son? Richard?” He looked up at Garrett. “You’re a doctor. Do something.” When Garrett didn’t move, he said, “I’m calling nine-one-one.” He hurried to the phone.
Theresa said, “Thomas. Wait.”
“There’s no time.”
“Wait just a few seconds.” She spun Garrett around. “You need to get out of here.”
“What?” He glanced over his shoulder at Richard. The small amount of blood expanded into a puddle, spread across the marble, spilled onto the carpeted floor. He turned back to Theresa. “I didn’t mean to—”
“I know. But you have to leave before the ambulance gets here. We’ll tell them he slipped. A freak accident. We don’t want the police to get involved.” She looked back at Thomas, who after a brief pause, nodded.
Garrett shook his head. “I can’t leave him like that.”
Thomas picked up the receiver. “Son, you listen to your mother. Go back to the hotel and wait for our call. Let us handle this.”
“Let me just—” Garrett pressed two fingers against Richard’s neck. “Thank God. Give me a towel.”
Theresa tugged his sweater. “Go, Garrett. Now.” She pushed his phone into his hand and shoved him forward.
Garrett staggered to the door and to his car. He backed out of the driveway without looking, hitting the brakes with a jolt when a driver behind him held his hand on the horn.
He didn’t remember driving back to the hotel. Didn’t remember how he got to his room. What he could remember was the sound of Richard’s skull hitting the hearth, how pale his brother’s skin had been as he lay unmoving on the living room floor, the sound of his father shouting into the phone for an ambulance, and his mother begging Richard to wake up.
CHAPTER 124
Garrett slung open the door to the mini-bar. He couldn’t afford to get drunk, but needed something to take the edge off. To make his hands stop shaking. To make the icy chill inside him go away. Just one airplane-size bottle of Scotch would do it. He broke the seal, twisted the cap off and drank.
He drank. Paced. Began the tedious process of deleting photos of Chelsea from his phone, until he couldn’t stand to look at her face any longer. He put the phone down and stood at the window.
Why didn’t his parents call and tell him that Richard had come to minutes after he left? That the EMTs checked him and all was fine. That aside from a few stitches and a fierce headache, Richard was okay. And willing to forgive him. So they could forgive each other. It was a call that, if received as desired, could stop the anguish tormenting him.
Garrett went to the lavatory, splashed cold water on his face, avoided looking at his reflection in the mirror. His cell phone rang. He dashed back, scooped up the phone and cursed. “I don’t want to talk to you now, Chelsea. I’m waiting for a call.”
“So much for putting me first, now and forevermore.”
“Forget everything I said.”
“You didn’t sound drunk last night, but apparently you were.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“I should know better by now than to trust you.”
He clutched the phone. “You’re the last damn person to talk to me about trust.”
“You always were nasty when you had a hangover.”
“What I do no longer concerns you. I don’t want to hear your voice or your lies ever again. And, don’t fool yourself into believing that I don’t mean it. You were right about one thing: our attorneys are to do the talking from now on.”
“Why are you acting like this?”
“Because you’re a poisonous, lying bitch. I’m going to instruct my attorneys to get you out of my house as part of the divorce settlement.”
“You’d make Kimberlie leave the only home she can remember?”
“I don’t care where you go or what you do. Or who you do. You can go to hell, as far as I’m concerned. But Kimberlie stays. With me. I’m going to ask for full custody. I’ll fight however I have to, to get it. And, I intend to win.”
“For your information, Garrett, as far as the courts are concerned, Kimberlie’s old enough to choose who she lives with.”
“She’ll choose to live with me. In my house. Especially once she knows her mother’s nothing more than a whore.”
“You wouldn’
t—”
“Do us all a favor: Run away with your latest penis-puppet and never contact any of us again. Better yet, die and leave us in peace.”
Garrett ended the call and stood at the window. Noted the crisp blue sky and the clear cold day. His phone rang again. If it was Chelsea or Penelope calling with more of their crap, he’d rip them from one end to the other.
He stormed to his phone on the coffee table. It was neither woman. Nor was it whom he’d expected. “Chloe?”
Garrett lowered himself onto the sofa as he listened to his sister’s voice, tears streaming down his face.
CHAPTER 125
Garrett cradled his forehead with his free hand. Chloe shouted his name over the phone several times. He took a few ragged breaths and said, “I need to hear you say it again.”
“Richard is doing okay. The prognosis is good, but they feel it’s best to keep him under observation for a few days.”
“Thank God. On both accounts. I’ve been going crazy waiting to hear from someone.”
“From what Mom and Dad told me, you went crazy before that.”
“Anna must hate me. You all must.” Garrett began to pace.
“We don’t hate you, and Anna doesn’t know anything other than Richard tripped. She doesn’t even know you were at the house. She did ask where you were and we told her you were doing a procedure; that we’d tell you later what happened.”
“I was terrified I’d killed him.”
“You didn’t. And before you ask, Mom and Dad got Richard to agree to that story, once he was conscious and talking in the E.R. They told me what happened before Anna got there. They don’t want her to know. Any of it. Especially your part in the accident.”
“Accident. Don’t be so gracious. I don’t deserve it. This is all my fault. I was furious about what he and Chelsea … what they’ve done.”
“They haven’t done anything.”
“If Mom and Dad told you everything, then you know that’s not true.”
“You’re the one who has the facts inside out. Nothing like what you believe happened between them ever did.”
“I understand why you’re defending Richard, but—”
“I’m defending him because I was there.”
Garrett pivoted and stopped. He gripped the phone. “What are you saying?”
“First, tell me who took those photos and then sent them to you after all this time.”
“What does that matter?”
“Just tell me, G.”
“Penelope.”
“That bitch. But, now it all makes perfect sense to me.”
CHAPTER 126
“I don’t understand, Chloe. What makes sense?” Garrett returned to the sofa. “Please get to the point a little faster than you usually do.”
“I knew my suspicions were right about her. I never liked or trusted her. Penelope’s so … artificial. In every way, if you get my meaning.”
“Chloe.”
“It was after that big fight you and Chelsea had.”
“I know.”
“As you also know, she decided to stay at the hotel a few days to think things over. But she needed someone to talk to who knows you well, so reached out to Richard. I called Richard while he and Chelsea were talking over coffee in the hotel restaurant. I could hear it was a restaurant and figured I could meet him and he could buy me lunch.”
“You’re approaching the too-much-information zone.”
“Anyway, I bugged him until he told me where he was and why. I told him it was all in the family and that I was coming over there. To wait for me.”
“How can you be sure it was that time and not another time they met there?”
“I remember what they were wearing—Mom told me what she remembered from the photos.”
“I’m going to grow old waiting for you to tell me why Penelope’s involvement in this makes sense.”
“Chill, G. I’ll get there. Richard and I walked Chelsea back to her room, you know, to see if there was anything else she needed.”
“She didn’t deserve it.”
“We didn’t know that then. Anyway, that’s where they always met to talk. I sat in on a couple of those conversations.”
“Why? Why would Richard even let you do that?”
“I told him you were my brother, too, and I had a right to know, or didn’t I count? Guilt sometimes works. Anyway, I did want to know what was going on, but I also considered it a life-lesson.”
“Not what I’d want my baby sister to learn.”
“Then you should consider setting a better example from now on. And you need to realize Richard isn’t like you. He honors the vows he made before God. He never pays lip-service to his faith. He lives it.”
“Penelope set me up.”
“Believe it.”
“Why would she do something that egregious? Why lie about my brother and my wife?”
“It’s obvious.”
“Not to me.”
“Then let baby sister tell big brother the other facts of life.”
CHAPTER 127
“I’m waiting.” Garrett kept the phone pressed to his ear as he got two miniature bottles of whiskey from the mini-bar.
“Penelope’s always wanted you. Well, I don’t know if she actually wants you, but she wants what Chelsea has, and that starts with you, and your wallet. Every time I was in the same room with her, especially at your house, I’d watch her ogle the house and what’s in it, the pool, the cars, Chelsea’s jewelry and stuff. Despite the makeup she wears, it couldn’t hide that she all but turned green.”
“I never noticed.”
“She followed every move you made. Kept her eyes on you longer, and more longingly, than she should have. Sure, she acted like she couldn’t stand you, but I’m not female for nothing. I know the signs. She was straining her brain to figure out a way to seduce you. I’m just grateful you never returned her interest. The image churns my stomach.”
Garrett twisted the cap off one of the bottles and downed the liquid in one gulp. If Chloe didn’t know about him and Penelope, maybe no one in his family did. Maybe Chelsea hadn’t told anyone. Yet. “Penelope lied about Richard. My own brother.”
“Told you. She’s a bitch. Chelsea needs to be rid of her.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s a done deal.” Garrett blew out a breath. “I need to apologize to Richard. I’ll clean up and head over to the hospital.”
“Wait until tomorrow. They want him to rest, and without any excitement. They even kicked us out.”
“I won’t do anything to disturb him, but I need to tell him how sorry I am. The sooner the better.”
“G, I love you, but you tend to put your interests first.”
Garrett sighed. “That stings, Chloe, but I’ll wait.”
CHAPTER 128
The breakfast Garrett ordered could have fed two people. Not a bite was left on his plate. He showered, shaved, got dressed, checked the time. Ten forty-five.
He called Chloe. “I’m getting ready to go to the hospital. How about riding with me? Maybe having you there will help Richard relax about my being in the same room with him.”
“Sorry, G. I just left there. But it’s okay. I told Richard about our conversation. He understands how the confusion happened and who caused it.”
“What did he say?”
“You know Richard. He had me take his hands and bow my head while he prayed for you and Chelsea. And Penelope. He believes every lost soul can be saved.”
“Even mine?”
Chloe laughed. “Especially yours.”
“What’s his room number?”
“Four twenty-five.”
“Sure you wouldn’t like to go again? I’ll buy you lunch. Anyplace you want to go.”
“You’re a big boy. Go there and take your lumps. And if Richard asks you to pray, do it without any complaint.”
Garrett chuckled. “I’d deserve that, as well.”
He slipped on one of his new jack
ets, dropped the phone into a side pocket, and left the room feeling both trepidation and relief. Richard could always be counted on to forgive everyone. How could they be from the same family, he wondered.
A quarter hour later, he dropped his car off at valet parking and made a stop at the hospital gift shop. Armed with balloons and the largest box of chocolates the shop carried, he waited at the elevator with several others. Once inside, he asked the person nearest the buttons to push Four.
The elevator stopped at each floor, finally opening on the one he wanted. Three nurses pushing a crash cart sped past him. Someone had coded, and the staff’s mad dash was an attempt to save a life. If he were Richard, he’d say a prayer for the person whose life hung suspended between this one and the next, if there was anything that came after. Richard was adamant there was. He wasn’t so sure.
Nurses and cart turned right. Garrett checked the signs for room numbers and turned right as well. He watched the nurses rush into a room on the left side of the corridor, where the odd-numbered rooms were. He picked up his pace, checking room numbers for each door he passed. “No-no-no-no.”
Room four twenty-five was abuzz with activity and orders being conveyed rapid-fire. From the other side of the door left ajar, one of the nurses shouted, “Clear.” He heard the familiar sound of electricity zapping the heart to get it to beat again. Pushed open the door.
A nurse turned him around and shoved him toward the corridor. “You can’t be in here.”
“That’s my brother.”
“Please wait outside.”
“I’m a doctor.”
“Then you know the rules.” She softened her tone. “I’m sorry, sir. Please wait here. I have to get back inside.”
Garrett leaned against the opposite wall, balloons in one hand, candy in the other, his expression one of fear and anguish. What was taking so long?
Damn you, Richard, do what you know you need to. Get your heart pumping. Take a breath and the next and the next. I’m standing out here waiting to say I’m sorry. Waiting for you to forgive me.