Ties That Bind

by Brenda Jackson

  Before Randolph could respond, Trey stood. “Hey, wait a minute! There’s no way my mother would have done something like that! What was done to Anna was cruel, devious and malicious. I admit Mom was wrong in keeping you and me apart all those years, Dad, but this is something altogether different. She wouldn’t have stooped that low.”

  “Oh, yes, she would have,” Julia Fuller came before her grandson. She was filled with fury at the thought that Angela had forged her name on a document that had kept her from being a part of her great-granddaughter’s life for thirty-four years. “Any woman who would drug a man to sleep with her with a devious plan to get pregnant, would do anything.”

  Shock appeared on Trey’s face. “Drug a man? What are you talking about? What man did she supposedly drug?”

  “Your father! He would never have slept with her any other way, since he was in love with Jenna,” Julia all but screamed, clearly getting hysterical. Pain tore at her heart, knowing all those years her great-granddaughter had thought that she had been the one to keep her from the family.

  Stunned, Trey’s gaze left his great-grandmother and moved to his father. “Is what she’s saying true, Dad? Did Mom drug you?”

  Later that night, Haywood snuggled closer to Trey in bed. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  Trey said nothing for a few moments and then he pulled Haywood into his arms, “I’m all right for a man who found out more about his mother in one day than he’s known in his entire lifetime. And the sad thing about it is that I discovered I don’t know her at all. The woman who did all those things isn’t the woman I know.”

  Haywood released a deep sigh. “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m flying back to California tomorrow to confront her about all of this.”

  “What if she denies it?”

  “She can’t, Haywood. There’s too much proof that says otherwise. Seeing that paper Anna brought tonight from her childhood nearly twisted my gut. When I think of what a better life Anna could have gotten over here while growing up, compared to what she got, I feel sick.”

  Haywood nodded. It sickened her as well. “Do you want me to go to California with you?”

  “No, this is something I have to do alone.”

  “All right.” A part of her wanted to ask him if he was coming back but she couldn’t. He hadn’t made any promises for their future or even said that they had one. “I’ll be leaving myself in a few days to return to Paris,” she said softly.

  “Do you still plan to turn in your resignation?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m glad.” He pulled her into his arms and held her. There was so much he wanted to say to her but could not. He couldn’t commit himself to her until he got beyond this thing with his mother.

  Forty-two

  Angela looked up and smiled when Trey walked into the living room. “Trey, I didn’t know you were coming back today!”

  “Hello, Mother,” he said, coming to stand directly in front of her. “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “I was just about to go shopping. Can it wait until later?”

  “No. It can’t.”

  Angela raised a brow as she looked at her son, suddenly feeling chilled inside. “Is everything all right? You seem bothered by something.”

  “I am.” He took her hand. “Please, let’s sit down and talk.”

  The message in his tone was unmistakable, and Angela allowed herself to be led to the sofa and sat down next to Trey. She wasn’t sure what he had been told but she knew he had been told something. Deep down she felt she had nothing to worry about. After all, she was his mother and deserved his loyalty, no matter what.

  “What’s this about, Trey?” she asked him, noticing the firm set of his jaw.

  “I know, Mom,” he said, staring hard at her.

  “You know what?” she asked, trapping his angry gaze.

  Trey’s eyes narrowed. “I know what you did to Dad thirty-four years ago, the day I was conceived. I know you drugged him to get him to participate.”

  Angela’s eyes flashed. “I did no such thing!”

  Trey ignored her outburst. “I also know that he did want to be a part of my life while I was growing up and that Jenna did not come between us. You did.”

  “Lies! Those are all lies!” she said angrily. “I can’t believe you let them convince you I did any of that, Trey!”

  “So, you’re denying it?”

  “Of course I’m denying it. What sort of woman do you think I am?”

  Trey looked long and hard at her. “To be totally honest with you, I really don’t know. You sit here next to me and lie to my face, Mom. I know you did those things because I have proof.”

  “Proof? What kind of proof?”

  “I saw documentation of the many times Dad tried taking you to court for visitation rights.”

  “Oh, that. Your father is an attorney, Trey. He can come up with any bogus form that he wants. He has friends in high places.”

  “And what about that signature you signed regarding Adrianna?”

  “I didn’t sign that. I wouldn’t put it past Julia to have someone sign it for her but it wasn’t me. No one can prove that’s my signature.”

  Trey stood and walked to the window and looked out, deciding to call his mother’s bluff. “Someone already has proven it. Noah took it to a handwriting specialist, a friend of his who works for the FBI. The man confirmed it was you and not Grandmother Julia who signed it.”

  He saw the color literally drain from his mother’s face. Then suddenly her composure returned and she said, “Okay, I admit I did sign that form, but only after Julia asked me to.”

  Trey shook his head in disgust. “I don’t believe you.”

  Anger flared within Angela. “What do you mean you don’t believe me? You would take their word over mine? How dare you! They are nothing. I even had a report run on Jenna’s daughter, the one you’ve been sleeping with—and yes, I know the two of you have slept together because she’s as much of a slut as her mother was. The report I got indicates she’s currently screwing around with her boss, who happens to be an older man. So it looks like she’s banging her way to the top.”

  Trey’s eyes flashed anger, nearly ripping him from reality as his jaws clenched like stone. “Jenna is not a slut. And I know all about Haywood’s past relationship with her boss,” he said, his anger having reached boiling point.

  “And you accept the kind of woman she is, Trey? Are you so taken in by her that you would take her any way you can have her? Don’t try defending her because she’s nothing but a slut just like her mother!”

  “And what does that make you, Mom, a woman who would drug a man to get him to sleep with her?”

  Angela stood, clearly upset. “Like I said before, that’s a lie. Your father had no right to tell you that!”

  Trey shook his head sadly. “He didn’t. That was the one thing he didn’t tell me about you. That, and the fact that he caught you in the act of being unfaithful. He respected how I felt about you enough not to tell me that. But he didn’t have to. The truth came out after all. So, Mother, as you can see, secrets aren’t secrets forever.” He turned to leave.

  Panic surged through Angela. “Trey! Wait! Where are you going?”

  “Right now I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going as far away from you as possible. You are my mother, but I don’t know you. You are heartless, cruel and calculating. You were willing to let Adrianna stay in—”

  “Adrianna! Who cares about her?! Yes, I did it and would do it again to protect you.”

  “To protect me?”

  “Yes! To protect you and what you were due! You were supposed to be the Fuller heir. If Ross’s child had been found then everything would have gone to her, since she was the oldest. Don’t you see I did it for you?”

  Trey stared at her and then uttered a disgusted sound. “For me! You cause someone undue pain and grief for me? Don’t even try it. You did it for yourself and your own se
lfish greed. You didn’t do anything for me.”

  Angela’s eyes suddenly filled with tears “No, that’s not true. Everything I’ve done was for you and Randolph. Do you know how long I wanted your father? How long I’ve loved him? He’s the only man I’ve ever wanted and he hurt me by going back to that woman. I’ll never forgive him for that. I’m the only woman for him and one day he will realize it and when he does, the three of us will be a family again.”

  Trey shook his head sadly. There was no doubt in his mind that his mother needed psychiatric help. It seemed that she was having a nervous breakdown right before his eyes. Deciding not to make her anymore hysterical than she was already, he coaxed her into lying down in her bedroom by telling her everything would be all right.

  Closing her bedroom door behind him, he then went to the phone and called his stepfather. “You need to come home right away.”

  Four hours later Trey sat in his apartment after returning from the hospital where he and Harry had taken Angela and had her admitted. Sadly, while sitting in the waiting room for the doctor to give them feedback on her condition, Harry had admitted that he had known of his wife’s emotional state for a long time but had ignored it, hoping things would eventually get better and her obsession with Randolph would come to an end. He loved his wife and was going to make sure she got the best medical care possible.

  Trey had told Harry that he would help with Angela any way he could; after all she was his mother and he loved her, too. He just hated the things she had done.

  For the third time Trey reached for the phone, wanting to talk to Haywood. And for the third time he didn’t make the call. He wondered if she was still in Richmond or if she had returned to Paris.

  He again reached for the phone. This time he was determined to make the call. His father picked up on the third ring. “Hello, Dad.”

  “Trey? How are you, son?”

  “I’m fine.”

  After a few brief moments, Randolph asked, “And how are things with your mother?”

  Trey let out a deep sigh. “Not good, Dad. She was admitted to the hospital a few hours ago. The doctors agree she needs psychiatric help.”

  “I’m sorry, Trey.”

  “I know, and I’m just glad Harry agrees that Mom needs help. He really loves her, Dad, and she’s going to need him now more than ever.”

  “You know what they say. Behind every good woman is a good man.”

  “Yeah, and behind every good man is a good woman. Speaking of good women, how’s Jenna?”

  Randolph smiled. “Jenna’s fine. She and Randi are out shopping.”

  “And what about Haywood? Has she returned to Paris?”

  “No, not yet. In fact she’s back at Glendale Shores.”

  Trey lifted a brow. “Alone?”

  “No, not exactly. Noelle and Anna went with her. They wanted to return the family Bible to its rightful place. Noelle and Anna came back today but Haywood decided to stay a few days longer.”

  “Oh.”

  After a few minutes, Randolph said, “Trey, can I give you some fatherly advice?”

  “Yes.”

  “If you’re in love with Haywood, let her know it.”

  Trey’s chest tightened in response to what his father had said. “Thanks for the advice, Dad. I think I’ll take it.”

  Haywood lay facedown on a blanket beside the pond. The calming sound of the rippling water and the gentle rays of the afternoon sun made her eyelids grow heavy as she felt the weight of sleep pressing against them.

  Her eyelids snapped open at the sound of footsteps on broken limbs and crunched grass. She sat up at the exact moment a figure stepped from among the trees.

  “Trey!”

  He stopped walking as his eyes took her all in. The two-piece bathing suit she was wearing wasn’t as revealing as the one she’d had on that first day but it was still eye-catching. “You like living dangerously, don’t you?” he asked in a husky voice.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You shouldn’t be out here alone dressed like that.”

  “There’s no one else on this island.”

  “You can’t always be absolutely sure of that, so try and be more careful.”

  “All right.”

  She looked at him expectantly and he suddenly realized that he hadn’t told her why he was there. “I called Dad and he told me you had come back here.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I thought it would be a good time for Anna to see the place since she’ll be sharing it with the two of us. Besides, she wanted to return the Denison family Bible to its rightful place.”

  Trey nodded, then crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her. “I understand Noelle and Anna left yesterday. Why didn’t you go, too?”

  “I wasn’t ready to go back yet.”

  “Any reason why?”

  Haywood shrugged. “I just wasn’t ready. How’s your mom?”

  Trey came and sat down beside her on the blanket. “I don’t want to talk about my mother right now.”

  “Okay.”

  After a few moments he looked over at her and said, “I missed you.”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “And I missed you, too.”

  Trey decided to take it one step further. He looked out at the pond then back at her and met her gaze. “And I love you.”

  He heard Haywood’s sharp intake of breath and saw the mistiness that suddenly clouded her eyes. “Oh, Trey. And I love you, too.”

  He shifted his body to reach into his back pocket to pull out a box. He flipped it open as he handed it to her, a beautiful diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”

  “Trey,” she reached out and hugged him as she began to cry in earnest. Somehow through it all he was able to place the ring on her finger. Then he kissed her the way he had wanted to kiss her from the moment he had seen her drifting off to sleep on the blanket.

  “You know what, Haywood?” he asked, moments after breaking off the kiss and while still holding her in his arms.

  “What?”

  “I think Ma Mattie had all this planned. She knew this place would get to us and break down our resistance.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yes, I really think so.”

  Haywood nodded. “I think you’re right,” she said as she kissed him again and pulled him down to her, to show him just how right she thought he was.

  Epilogue

  Glendale Shores

  Six months later

  It had been a beautiful day for a wedding.

  Jenna smiled as she glanced across the way at her daughter. She had been a beautiful bride in such a beautiful place. The wedding had been held outside, in the same spot where she and Randolph had exchanged their wedding vows.

  In one heartbeat Haywood had walked down the aisle on Randolph’s arm, and in the next, she had been standing beside Trey, facing the minister as they repeated their vows, pledging their lives together forever. Noelle had been her maid of honor and Randi and Anna her bridesmaids. Zachary had been Trey’s best man and a couple of his frat brothers his groomsmen.

  So many had come out to witness another union between a Haywood and a Fuller, and like her, everyone thought it was a blessed occasion.

  Jenna’s breathing became ragged when she caught her husband’s eye. Every muscle, every angle, and every line in his face shone with happiness. Over the past six months he and Trey had slowly rebuilt a relationship that had taken Angela twenty-two years to destroy.

  Trey had told her earlier that Harry, deciding it would be best if he and Angela stayed away, had sent words of congratulations and best wishes. Although part of Jenna wanted to hate Angela for all she had done, she couldn’t find it in her heart to do so. Angela was a sick woman and was still undergoing psychiatric help. Besides, the love she and Randolph shared had survived the test of time. Living proof was there in her daughter and his son.

  Jenna reluctantly moved her gaze from Randolph to Leigh and Noah. It was rumored around Washing
ton that Noah’s name had been thrown about as a possible vice presidential nominee for the next election. The good news was that he was giving it considerable thought … in case the rumor was true.

  Ellie and Johnny were standing together talking with Johnnetta, Ellie’s thirty-six-year-old daughter. Ellie and Johnny had gotten married a few months ago. Johnny, who had finished college while incarcerated, had since gone on to get his masters and his doctorate and was now a professor at Morehouse College. He had also written a book detailing his time with the Panthers, and the fourteen years he had been locked up for something he didn’t do. The book had been a bestseller.

  Jenna turned slightly and watched as Zachary carried a cup of punch over to Anna, who was sitting on a bench facing the pond. The family had accepted Ross’s daughter with open arms, glad to see that the search, which had taken thirty-four years, was over. Leigh had mentioned that Anna was thinking of moving to Washington to be near her father’s family, who she now considered her family, as well. According to Leigh, Zach and Anna had been seeing a lot of each other whenever she came to town, and although Zach said the two of them were just close friends, she knew the family was hoping it blossomed into something more.

  Something pulled at Jenna and made her turn around. She glanced through the trees and in the distance she could see the big house, looming tall and stately. She blinked. Then blinked again and her eyes flew wide.

  “What are you looking at, sweetheart?” Randolph appeared by her side and followed her gaze through the trees.

  Jenna’s head snapped around and her eyes met those of her husband’s. “I thought … I could have sworn I saw …” She shook her head, collecting her wits, knowing it wasn’t possible.

  “Gramma Mattie?”

  Jenna’s mouth dropped as she watched Randolph’s lips form into a smile. “How did you know?”