“Yeah, I know.” The idea of being surrounded by people who cared about him sounded good right now. “I’ll be there.”
“That’s great. We’ll see you on Friday for dinner?”
“Sure. I’ll see you then.”
They ended their call and Ethan moved to the dining room table where he’d set up his laptop. As it booted up, he drank the last of the beer. He hadn’t wanted to mention to Lydia that he already had an appointment in the city on Friday.
He opened the document his lawyer had drawn up for him to sign on Friday and read it carefully one more time. Everything seemed to be in order. Lydia and Graham wouldn’t like it, but this was something he needed to do.
Once it was done, he would leave. There was nothing left for him at Solace Lake.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Harper wiped tables and gathered dirty dishes in the dining room of Miller’s Golf Resort, glad the lunch hour rush was over. She didn’t have the energy to serve another customer, and she couldn’t manage one more polite smile. Sleep had been elusive the last couple of weeks and the lack of it was taking a heavy toll. She could barely keep up in the dining room, and she found herself making stupid mistakes in her clients’ bookkeeping. But every time she closed her eyes she remembered lying next to Ethan, his arms around her, holding her as if he’d never let her go.
But he’d lied to her. Now, she had to let him go or go mad.
After hauling the last tray of dirty dishes to the kitchen, she returned to the dining room to set the tables for dinner. When she saw a tall, dark haired woman standing near the entrance, she suppressed a groan. She took a deep breath, grabbed a menu and headed toward her. She made herself smile, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. “Good afternoon. Would you like a table for one or are you meeting someone?”
The woman didn’t return her smile. “Are you Harper Lindquist?”
The question surprised her. “Yes, I am. Who are you?”
“Lydia Hainstock Barnes. I’m Ethan’s sister.”
Ethan had spoken fondly of his sister. When Harper looked more closely, she could see the family resemblance. The dark, wavy hair, the chocolate brown eyes, even the shape of her mouth. “Why are you here?”
“I’d like to talk to you.”
Harper waved her hand, indicating the tables. “I have work to do.”
“I need a few minutes of your time. It’s important.”
She clutched the menu to her chest. “Did Ethan send you?” She barely got the words out of her parched throat.
To her surprise, Lydia laughed. The smile transformed her face, making her look even more like Ethan. Harper’s heart lurched in pain.
“No, he doesn’t know I’m here. If he did, he’d probably be very unhappy with me.”
“Then why did you come?”
The smile disappeared. “Because I want to set the record straight. There are some things I think you should know. I came all the way from Minneapolis to talk to you, and I don’t intend to leave until I do.”
Judging from the stubborn set of her jaw, Harper believed her. Best to let her have her say and get her out of the restaurant quickly before she caused some kind of scene. The humiliation of having her co-workers know what a fool she’d been would be too much.
The deck beyond the French doors would give them privacy. Plastic chairs and tables had already been set out after being in storage all winter, but the late April chill made it too cold to sit outside, so the deck was deserted. “Wait for me out on the deck. I’ll grab my jacket and tell my boss I’m taking a break.”
Harper pushed her arms through the sleeves of her jacket as she opened the French doors and stepped onto the deck. Lydia stood at the railing with her back to her. As the older woman turned to look at her, Harper did her best to school her features into a neutral expression. “So, I’m here. What did you want to say to me?”
“You’re being totally unfair to Ethan.”
“I’m being unfair? He lied to me. He didn’t even tell me his real name.”
“He had a reason for doing that.”
“Really? If he did, I haven’t heard a good one, which leads me to believe he was playing me.”
Lydia’s expression darkened. “My brother doesn’t ‘play’ people. You don’t know anything about him.”
“No, I don’t, because he wouldn’t tell me anything. Not really.” She remembered the stories he told her about growing up in Wisconsin with an alcoholic father. He said the stories he’d told her about his family had been real, but now she couldn’t help doubting everything he’d said.
“Everyone thinks winning big in a lottery would mean all their troubles would be over. But after what happened to Ethan, I can tell you it’s only the beginning of trouble.”
“What do you mean?” Harper asked, curious in spite of herself.
“It started the day he won the lottery. The pulp mill where he was working was about to close. He and all his co-workers were going to be out of jobs. Three days before the scheduled closure, Ethan won the lottery. Once the congratulations died down, he started to get requests from his buddies for money. Everybody was desperate. Some wanted him to buy the company so they could all keep their jobs, but that made no sense since the place was hemorrhaging money. Ethan actually looked into it, but even with the huge amount of money he’d won, it wouldn’t be enough to save that place. When he said he couldn’t buy the company, a lot of people were angry. They told him he was being selfish and didn’t care about anyone but himself.
“That really hurt him. For a while, he passed out money right and left to anyone with a sob story, but it was never enough. He decided not to give one co-worker money because he knew the man was struggling with drug addiction, and he was afraid anything he gave him would be smoked or snorted away. The guy came after Ethan, robbed him at gunpoint and threatened to kidnap a member of his family if he didn’t give him what he wanted.” Lydia paused, closing her eyes for a moment before resuming. “He talked about taking one of my children. He and Ethan had been friends. He knew where we lived.”
Harper pulled her jacket closed, shocked to hear this. “Oh, my God!”
“Fortunately, he ran away after stealing a few hundred dollars and Ethan wasn’t hurt. The police arrested the guy and he spent some time in jail. It was pretty scary, for all of us.”
Harper shook her head, shocked at what Ethan had been through, what his whole family had been through. He should have told her.
“The incident served as a wakeup call. Ethan realized he had to be more cautious about his personal safety and the safety of the whole family. He moved to Minneapolis from Duluth to gain more anonymity. My husband and I sold our house and moved our kids to a private school with more security. Our brother Cameron changed the daycare his daughter was going to.”
“Wait. Cameron Hainstock is your brother? Ethan’s brother?”
“Yes. Have you met?”
“No.” At least he’d been truthful about Cameron Hainstock being ‘Mr. Hainstock’s’ brother. If only Ethan had told her the story Lydia was telling her now.
Lydia paced the deck. “Ethan also realized he had to be a lot smarter about what he did with the remaining money. My husband Graham and I have been in the financial services industry for years, so he turned to us for help. Together, we established the Hainstock Foundation so that any requests for money had to come through a board of directors. Every request is judged on its merits. The foundation has given away millions to all kinds of charities – children’s hospitals, medical research facilities, environmental groups – you name it. Ethan could have blown the money on fancy houses and fast cars, but he decided to do something good with it instead.”
Harper had read about the charities the Hainstock Foundation had supported but at the time, it had been a big, anonymous company, not a person she cared about. She should have known Ethan was the type of person who would think of the needs of others before his own.
“Getting held up
at gunpoint was bad, but it wasn’t the worst that happened to him.”
Harper shook her head. “How could it possibly get any worse than that?”
“What I’m going to tell you next gets to the heart of Ethan’s actions with you. All I ask is that you listen and try to understand. Okay?”
Harper nodded her assent. Ethan’s sister nodded back then began to pace the deck once more.
“Ethan’s girlfriend Bree broke up with him a couple of weeks before his company was scheduled to close. She didn’t see any future with a guy who had no job and no prospects. When he won the money a short time later, she turned up again, saying she was pregnant.”
“Oh.” Harper’s heart fell, the pain nearly unbearable. One more deceit. “So he lied. He told me he didn’t have any children.”
“He doesn’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When he found out he was going to have a baby, Ethan wanted to do the right thing, so he proposed to Bree. My husband and I were suspicious. How very convenient for her to find out she was pregnant just when Ethan became a millionaire. We hired an investigator to check her out, and he discovered she’d had an abortion six months previously. Her sister spilled the whole story.”
Harper clutched the back of one of the plastic chairs. “You mean, she aborted Ethan’s child?”
Lydia nodded, her jaw tense with anger. “Ethan was devastated. Bree’s plan was to quickly get pregnant again so she could hide her lie. Once she had her hooks into him, she’d be set up for life.”
Harper’s legs trembled and threatened to buckle. She plopped down into the chair.
“Do you understand now why he was reluctant to tell you the whole truth?”
“I understand he had to be cautious when he first met me. But once he got to know me, he should have told me the truth. I would have understood.”
“People Ethan knew all his life completely changed toward him after he won the money. He didn’t know what kind of reaction he was going to get from you. Would you be the kind who threw yourself at him, or would you treat him with disdain and jealousy because he was so rich? He’s had both.”
“I don’t give a damn about the money! All I ever cared about was him!”
“Are you sure about that? If Ethan hadn’t shown up, you would have lost your lodge, wouldn’t you? As far as Ethan knew, that was all you cared about.”
She stared at Lydia, stunned. Is that what Ethan thought? That he was only a means to an end for her? That she only liked him because he provided the money to fix the lodge? “It’s not like that, not at all.”
Lydia shrugged and looked out over the lake. “If you say so.”
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Because someone has to set you straight.”
“He really doesn’t know you’re here?”
“No.”
Harper’s head was spinning. “What do you want me to do with this information?”
She shrugged again, but Harper sensed the tension beneath her apparent indifference. “Ethan blames himself for what happened between you. From what I can see, so do you. Before you dismiss him as a liar and a cheat, I thought you needed to know the truth. Ethan deserves that much.”
Without another word, she turned and left through the French doors. Harper stared out at the lake, trying to make sense of everything Lydia had told her. Ethan couldn’t possibly think that the only thing she cared about was the lodge. She closed her eyes in misery. She’d given him plenty of reasons to believe that was true. In fact, until Ethan, she’d thought saving the lodge was the most important thing in her life. But she’d been wrong.
Ethan’s heart raced as he dialed the number. While the phone rang, he wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans.
“Scarlet Lindquist.”
He cleared his throat. “Scarlet, it’s Ethan. We met when you and your sisters signed the contract with Hainstock Investments.”
“Oh.” She managed to pack a big load of disdain into one small word. “How did you get my work number?”
“Harper mentioned where you worked.” Harper had only told him she worked at a marketing firm in Chicago. He’d scoured the internet to discover the rest.
“Wait. Is something wrong? Is Harper all right? Has she been hurt?”
“No, she’s not hurt. Not physically anyway.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
He took a deep breath. “It means I hurt her. I made a big mistake.”
“Yeah, I’d say you did. You lied to her. You misrepresented yourself to her. If she’s kicked you to the curb, you deserve it.”
“So you know who I am.”
“Of course I do, Mr. Hainstock. I don’t know what your game is, but I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Wait! Don’t hang up! I’m giving the lodge to Harper.”
There was a moment of silence before Scarlet asked, “What are you talking about?”
At least that got her attention. He told her Harper’s plan to sell the lodge.
“It’s my fault. I can’t let her do this.” When his voice cracked, he had to pause for a moment to regain composure. “If she sells, she’ll lose the lodge forever. So, once the renovations on the lodge are finished, I’m going to hand over ownership to her, free and clear. She’ll have no debt, and she can operate the lodge as she sees fit.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Scarlet asked. Ethan didn’t miss the cynicism in her voice.
“My lawyer has drawn up the transfer papers. I’ll have him email you a preliminary copy so you can look it over and see if there’s anything you think I should change. I’ll send a copy to Maggie, too.”
“Have you told Harper any of this?”
“No.” She didn’t want to hear from him. “After you look over the papers and I make any changes you want, I’ll send the final copy to her.”
“Why are you telling me this? Are you hoping I’m going to intercede on your behalf with my sister?”
“No. It’s too late for that. I’m telling you because you and Maggie are co-owners and this affects you as much as it does Harper. But mostly I’m telling you because I’m hoping you can help Harper run this place. It’s going to be too much for one person alone. She’ll need help from people she can trust. From you and Maggie.”
“Have you talked to Maggie?”
“She’s my next call.”
Scarlet was silent for several long seconds and if he hadn’t heard her soft sigh, he might have thought the line had gone dead.
At last she spoke. “Why are you doing this, really? Handing over the lodge has to cost you thousands, maybe millions. Why would you take such a financial loss?”
“If I’ve learned anything in the five years since I won the lottery, it’s that the money doesn’t mean anything without the people I love. It’s not important without them.” He swallowed and closed his eyes, tamping down the emotion that threatened to swamp him. “Will you consider coming home to help Harper?”
“The lodge is her dream, not mine.”
“Please, Scarlet. She’s your sister and she needs you. Even if it’s not forever, could you give her your support?”
There was another moment of silence. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“That’s all I ask. Thank you.”
“When can I expect those papers?”
“My lawyer will email them to you by end of business today.”
“Right. So you’re going to call Maggie now?”
“Yes. Thank you for taking my call. I’ll let you get back to work.”
“You really love her, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” He managed that one word before his throat closed with emotion.
Scarlet’s sigh echoed over the phone lines. “I have to go. Goodbye Ethan.”
He hit the off button and set his phone on the kitchen counter. He needed to talk to Maggie, but he had to compose himself first. Talking to Scarlet had been much more difficult than he’d imagin
ed.
Telling her of his plans made them feel so real, so final. Once he handed over his share of the lodge to Harper, it would be over. He’d never see her again.
He let the pain of that thought wash over him.
When he’d recovered sufficiently, he made his call to Maggie. She was less confrontational then than Scarlet, but no less surprised by what he was proposing. When he asked her to come home to help Harper, she said she’d seriously consider it.
Tomorrow, he’d speak to Reese and let him know he’d be heading back to Minneapolis immediately, and that if he had any questions or problems he could contact him there.
And then he’d pack up and leave. Because of him, Harper had been avoiding the lodge, and working far more hours at Miller’s than was good for her. He didn’t want to inflict his presence on her any longer than he had to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It was nearly nine p.m. when Harper pulled into the driveway leading to the lodge. The worksite was dark and quiet, the workers having left hours ago. She drove past Ethan’s cottage. His truck was gone and the cottage was dark.
When she rounded the curve that led to her own cottage, she was surprised to find all the lights on and an unfamiliar car parked in the front yard. As soon as she pulled up to the cottage, the door opened and her sisters stepped onto the porch.
Harper sprang from the truck and hurried up the steps to hug them, so happy to see their familiar faces. “This is a lovely surprise. What are you two doing here?”
“We had to talk to you. Why don’t we go inside?” Scarlet said.
She followed them into the cottage and hung her jacket on a peg near the door. “When did you get here?”
“About five. We had a chance to talk to Reese before the crew wrapped up for the day. He said the renovations are on schedule.”
A few weeks ago she would have been thrilled they were finally taking an interest in the project. But now… “That’s good.”
“He said he hasn’t seen much of you lately,” Maggie said.
Harper looked away and then headed for the fridge. “I’ve been busy, with work. Have you eaten? I’m starved. I didn’t have time to grab anything at Miller’s.”
Lies and Solace Page 24