“Holy…” Tuck stopped and cleared his throat as he put on his lawyer face. The one which said no one was messing with his client and said client better bring him up to date right quick.
“Tuck, this is Court and Drew Robinson. Birdie brought them home for Thanksgiving…” she started to explain but at the look in his eyes, she faltered.
Blue eyes—so much like Birdie’s people who did and didn’t know better often teased them about the resemblance—drilled into her, asking questions and wanting answers right now. As her lawyer, neighbor, and friend, the look also reassured her he was on her side, ready to jump in and defend her if needed. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
“Court, Drew, this is our neighbor and friend, Brad Tucker. Also my lawyer.” There, that should explain Tuck’s seemingly odd question.
However, it didn’t throw Tuck off one bit. She could see his sharp eyes had already taken in the physical resemblance of Birdie to the two men behind her, and he quickly moved on to sizing up Court with slightly narrowed eyes.
“So the old jokes were half right?” he asked quietly.
More footsteps came up the walk. As if Kelly could resist being nosy. Randi’s heart beat faster, and she knew the end of her little secret approached like a flash flood. Go away. She silently tried to communicate the thought to the Tuckers. Of course, both ignored her.
“Oh. My. God.” Kelly stopped and stared from one blond to the next just as her husband had. “Tuck, she really wasn’t—”
Tuck threw an arm around his wife’s shoulder, his hand coming to rest over her mouth. “And this is my wife, Kelly, the big mouth.” He gave her a quelling glare before releasing her mouth. “This is why she isn’t the lawyer of the family,” he explained to the astonished crowd.
Randi glanced over her shoulder. Birdie and Drew both looked stunned. A glance in the other direction showed mild amusement and resignation on Court’s face.
Heart sinking, she turned back to her neighbors. “Thanks, Kelly, Tuck, I’ll catch up with you later.”
Kelly’s mouth gaped open and closed a few times before words emerged. “Oh Randi! I’m so, so, sorry…” Green eyes round as saucers had the grace to look horrified.
“I know, Kelly.” Randi patted her friend’s arm when all she wanted was for the earth to open up and swallow someone. Her or Kelly, she didn’t care. “We’ll talk, I promise.”
“If you need us…” Tuck still eyed Court warily, but he backed off, dragging Kelly with him, the dish in his hand forgotten.
“I know your number.” She gave them a half smile. Birdie began to make spluttering noises behind her. “Or I’ll light-signal.”
Since Wyatt’s death, Tuck had told her if she ever needed him and couldn’t get to a phone, she could always flash an SOS using a light switch or flashlight. She’d also learned enough Morse code there were times she’d done it to say goodnight and convey the message all was well. Although she probably wouldn’t need the signal tonight, she liked knowing they were there if needed. One couldn’t plan neighbors like this, but sometimes, they were handed over on a silver platter. A result of good Karma? Possibly. Then again, with Kelly’s well-intentioned, but big mouth, maybe not.
Well, if she had any good Karma, she needed it now. Taking a deep breath, she turned to find Birdie and Drew frozen, their mouths gaping open.
“We need to talk,” Randi said simply. “Let’s go inside.”
“I’ll say!” Birdie squeaked. “I want to know what Aunt Kelly meant!”
“Yeah, I want to know why no one ever told me I have a sister,” Drew said on a shaky chuckle. “I came damn close to damaging us both for life.”
“Sister!” Birdie’s eyes widened even more. “Omigod, omigod.” She turned stricken eyes to Randi, and pointed a shaking finger at Court. “You mean…?”
Randi nodded wearily, her heart breaking at the look on her daughter’s face.
“If he’s…then…” Birdie turned to Drew and took another step back into the house, running into the foyer table. “Then he’s…my brother?” The high-pitched screech made Randi wince at the shot of pain piercing her head.
“Let’s take this inside,” she said more firmly and stepped into the house, practically bulldozing Drew out of her way, leaving the men to follow, or not, at their choosing. She grasped Birdie’s arm and marched her into the family room, Birdie too stunned to protest or fight. Once there, Randi gently pushed her down onto the sofa and took the rocking chair for herself, drawing it up so they sat face to face.
“Birdie, baby.” Randi gulped and stared into her daughter’s beautiful blue eyes. How to say this? Spit it out? Come at it from an angle? Start at the beginning and work up to it? She picked up Birdie’s icy hand.
Aw Hell. There was no easy way, and when push came to shove, she believed in being forthright. “Birdie, I have to tell you… You need to know…” No brilliant words came to her. Randi drew in a deep breath, exactly as she’d do before diving into the pool. Birdie perched on the edge of the sofa, her face intent, her attention focused and confused. There was no way out but to go forward.
“As the Tuckers guessed, Wyatt wasn’t your biological father.”
Chapter 8
“And you’re just telling me this now?”
Randi flinched as Birdie’s hand dropped away, and she sat with her mouth open wide enough to catch flies.
Drew settled on the far end of the sectional sofa, and Court stopped beside the rocking chair, his hand coming to rest on Randi’s shoulder. A show of support? Lord, she needed one.
“Court is your biological father, which makes Drew your half brother.” In a rush, Randi confirmed the words Birdie had choked out a few moments ago, and Court’s hand tightened on her shoulder. She caught a flinch and cough from Drew at the edge of her vision. Gaze locked on Birdie, Randi reached for Court’s hand, and his fingers enmeshed hers in his comforting grip.
Birdie’s mouth snapped shut and dropped open again, her face losing all color for a moment and then flushing a hot red before going white again. Randi let go of Court and reached for Birdie’s hand, but her daughter recoiled.
Birdie glanced from Drew to Court and back around again. “I don’t believe you! It can’t be…”
Heart breaking for the pain and confusion on her daughter’s face, Randi kept nodding, unable to think of a way to convince her daughter, hoping for a look of relief in Birdie’s eyes. Relief as in she hadn’t yet gotten to the cuddling stage with Drew, or—heaven forbid!—further.
“He’s…he”—she pointed one finger over Randi’s shoulder—“is my father?” The rising note in Birdie’s voice made it come out as a squeak. “My father? And this is the best way you could think of to tell me?”
Oh God, could this go any worse? “I’m sorry, so sorry!” Randi moaned and reached for Birdie again. At this point, Drew was Court’s worry, and she didn’t spare him a glance. “I wanted to find a better way. I never intended to dump it on you like this.”
Birdie’s face contorted into a mask of horror, and Randi feared what might erupt. She didn’t expect, “You mean my real name is Courtney Robin Robinson?”
A louder choke disguised as a cough from the other end of the couch made all eyes turn toward Drew. His blue eyes were frozen wider than usual and despite his tan, he looked a little pale. Possibly a little green. “Courtney?” He swallowed and forced a grin. “Who’d have thought?”
“You thought Birdie was my real name?” Birdie stared at him as if he’d grown a second head, or the one on his shoulders had rolled off.
Drew shrugged. “I’ve seen it used as a real name.”
“When?” Birdie demanded
“A couple of times…”
“If you say, Bye, Bye Birdie and Hope Floats, I will shoot you.”
The only person in the room who seemed remotely amused, Drew’s crooked grin trembled at the corner, seeming to regain his composure faster than anyone else, and
Randi wondered exactly how he’d processed the revelation. “Okay, I won’t say the movies.”
Birdie threw up her hands with a growl, and Randi wanted to echo her. Another man who dealt with trauma by making jokes? What was it with guys? She glanced over her shoulder at Court who merely shrugged as if to say this was normal.
“Got to admit you got yourself one hell of a name there, Bird. Guess that means you’ll be hanging around longer than a year abroad fling, eh? Aw damn.” His head fell back, and he stared up at the ceiling, hands lying limp on his lap. “Glad you all spoke up now, wish you’d done it sooner, considering what I was…bloody hell.” He straightened and scrubbed his face with both hands. “I suppose if I have to have a sister, I’m glad it’s you. It’ll take a few moments to flip-flop my thinking. But overall, yer, I’m glad to have a sister.” Drew’s sweet face brightened with a wide, toothy grin, to counteract his still pasty pallor. “And if Kevin Westerfield thinks this’ll give him a chance of getting into your knickers, well, I already told him it’d never happen, but now I can back it up with a fist to his nose.” Drew raised a fist and pantomimed a right hook.
Birdie gasped, and by the way her eyes lit up for a moment, apparently, she didn’t think it was so awful that this Kevin person wanted to get close to her.
“Bloody hell.” Drew’s smile dropped and he paled again. “A sister. When’s your birthday, Bird?”
“February.”
“That means…” Drew frowned, then flicked his gaze toward his father.
“Yes.” Court gave his son a crooked smile. “She was conceived roughly four months after you. About a month before I married your mother.”
“Now there’s a story I have to hear.” One corner of Drew’s mouth curled up in a matching crooked grin.
“I suspect you’ll get your wish. Very soon.” Court closed his eyes as his grip tightened on Randi’s shoulder.
Randi couldn’t help but grimace and give a weak, very weak, laugh. Oh yeah, there was a story.
“This isn’t funny!” Birdie shouted.
Stunned by the angry vehemence of Birdie’s voice, Randi swiveled her head to see the normally sunny face dark and stormy. Birdie had never been one to shout when upset and, yet, here sat a girl Randi didn’t recognize. Birdie’s eyes flashed with roiling emotions, her face a mottled mixture of red and white. She obviously couldn’t process the shock as fast as her brother. “This is my life you’ve just turned on its nose!”
“I didn’t mean to!” Forcing herself to stay seated when she wanted to jump up and pace, Randi defended herself. Birdie was upset enough for the time being, and pacing would only increase everyone’s agitation. She needed to bring this under control and fisted her hands in her lap. If her neck got any tighter it might snap in two, which might be a blessing, actually, possibly even less painful than what she felt now. “It all happened so long ago, and the situation couldn’t have been more complicated…”
“The nineteen eighties were not the Middle Ages!” Birdie argued back. “You should have told me from the beginning. You shouldn’t have married my fa—my dad—Wyatt to hide your mistake. You didn’t have to create a false life, a false identity for me.”
Randi dropped her head back, and it thunked against her rocking chair, adding to the headache building inside her skull. “I didn’t want to,” she whispered. “I wanted you to know Court, but other people made different decisions, limiting my choices. However, I did have choices, and the one to marry Wyatt seemed like the best way to smooth out a difficult situation.”
Randi glanced to the left at the painting hanging over the fireplace. It didn’t appear to be much more than a seascape to anyone who didn’t know, but Birdie knew it well. Wyatt had bought it as a gift to the family in general to commemorate his and Randi’s fifth wedding anniversary. The year they’d moved into this house. Birdie looked as well, and it seemed to calm her. They’d all found the painting of Monterey Bay, done by a no-name artist, soothing and peace inspiring. It seemed to work its magic now when they needed it most.
“I don’t see how.” Birdie grabbed a sofa pillow and hugged it to her stomach, huddling around it as if holding her favorite teddy bear. “You’d better explain it to me.” At least now she spoke in closer to normal tones and no longer shouted.
“I’m curious as well,” Drew drawled and stretched out his legs, hands folded across his stomach.
Randi looked up at Court, pleading for… Lord, she didn’t know what. Rescue from a white knight would be nice about now. Apparently, he got the message because he nodded and gave her shoulder a brief squeeze.
“I’ll start it,” Court said. He struck a pose, legs spread, hands clasped behind his back.
“No!” Birdie objected. “I want to hear it from her. That is if you are who you say you are. You are my mom, aren’t you?” A hint of a sneer almost covered the flash of fear in Birdie’s eyes and tempered the hurt and anger tearing through Randi.
“Of course I’m your mother! I even have the scars to prove it.” Reining in her own temper, Randi held up her hands. “Okay, okay. Quite simply, while in London for my semester abroad, I met Court. We fell…” She swallowed hard, thinking of all the times she’d questioned this very fact herself. Court’s hand tightened on her shoulder and certainty returned. “We fell in love and love followed its natural course. The day I was scheduled to leave, several things happened.” Bracing herself, she lowered her arms and clung to the solid arms of the rocking chair.
She closed her eyes and let the memories flow. “Court and I had already said our goodbyes. My flight left that night, and he had a new hire reception he had to attend. He’d just completed his graduate degree, and it was time for him to step into the family business.”
Birdie snorted and Randi opened her eyes. “You know all about family companies and what parents expect. You’ve seen it your whole life, because even though I work from home, I work for my father. It was the same for Court, and he’d been raised his whole life to work for his father.”
“Um, actually, not only my father but my prospective father-in-law as well,” he said, and Randi looked up at him. “See, Beatrice and I were products of an outdated fashion. We’d technically been engaged since we were children. The estates are side by side and the businesses compatible. Our marriage brought about a merger of both concerns.”
Surprise made Randi blink. It certainly explained a few things. “You never mentioned that.”
“I didn’t see any point. Beatrice and I were over and done with at the time you and I met.” Face carefully blank, he shrugged. “She and I spent one night together, decided we didn’t suit after all, and parted ways.” His gaze moved to Drew and softened with a father’s pride. “Of course, all it took was one night to create you.”
“Why’d you split in the first place?” Drew asked, then his eyes widened. “Are you saying you married her because she got pregnant?”
“In part. Many other factors went into the decision process. It wasn’t so cut and dried.”
“Right. The companies.” Drew nodded, not looking like he completely agreed with the practice, but understood the system.
“And your grandparents’ estate, which is willed to you as the first male child on their side in three generations.”
“I don’t see how all that matters,” Birdie said. “Didn’t you know my mother was pregnant? And with your child?”
“No, I didn’t. But if I had known—”
Randi held up a hand again. “I had a chance to tell him, but by then I knew about the other baby.” She glanced at Drew and apologetically grimaced. He smiled in return. “Drew. Only he didn’t have a name then. Not yet. Please, let me do this in order.”
“Oh, please do get on with it. I’m just dying to hear the story.” Birdie imperiously waved for her to keep going.
Randi ignored the heavy sarcasm. Birdie certainly had the right to feel what she felt. “All right, so Court had family obligations. I kn
ew this. I’d applied for a summer internship at the same company, but as no call came through, we both assumed I didn’t get it. So instead of going to the new hire reception myself, which had been scheduled since before I’d left home, my flight was booked for the same time, making it impossible for him to see me off at the airport. We had plans for after my graduation, once he had some work experience, but nothing set in stone. We said goodbye, and then as I started to pack, the phone rang and I got the news I had the internship. I’d barely hung up when the phone rang again, only it was student health services. The doctor told me I was pregnant, despite the birth control I was on.”
Birdie snorted. “Right.” A roll of the eyes conveyed her disbelief.
“Antibiotics, my dear. Remember this little fact well, they can negate the effectiveness of birth control pills.”
The nod from Birdie came reluctantly. They’d discussed it before. Randi had made sure of that early on.
“So.” Randi drew in a deep breath and let it go. “I canceled my flight home, and made all the arrangements I needed in order to stay. I dressed up and went to the new hire reception with every intention of telling Court the happy news. What plans I had.” Sadness and humiliation swamped her as if it were happening all over again. The look on his face, the disdain on her—Beatrice? What a name—face, the horror on Danielle Richards’ face…and the sheer loathing of the two older couples standing near them. It had felt as if she faced an arena of man-eating tigers, all of them out for her blood. Except Court. His face alone had showed something else. Surprise, regret, and shame.
“Well it didn’t work out quite the way I’d envisioned. I got to the reception in time to overhear the conversation about his…fiancé’s pregnancy and how, to celebrate the happy event, they’d moved up the wedding date.” Though she turned to look at Birdie, she clasped her hands over her stomach, remembering what it had felt like to carry her daughter.
“I’d opened my mouth to drop my own bombshell, but then I couldn’t speak. All those people looking at me. They all seemed so pleased with the news, and Court looked so…so…right…beside…her. Like they’d been made for each other. Cut from the same cloth, so to speak.” Feeling guilty for not being able to say the woman’s name, she glanced at Drew who gave her a tiny smile and nod of encouragement. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t force such a decision on him. He’d have been torn between two babies… And apparently, she’d been there first. I was the outsider. The foreigner. No way would I have ever gained the support of his parents. I didn’t belong in his world.”
Her Foreign Affair Page 10