It appeared that Mrs. Lopez was doing a treatment in one of the rooms. Disappointed, Beth asked if she could wait to see her. The nurse pointed to a small lounge at the end of the hall and told Beth that she would send Mrs. Lopez down there when she was finished.
Beth waited for ten minutes, leafing through the outdated magazines provided by the management She was just giving up on an article about refinishing furniture, a subject about as interesting to Beth as terrace farming, when Mrs. Lopez appeared in the doorway, looking at her curiously.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked Beth.
Beth rose, approaching the older woman. She looked unchanged from Beth’s memory of her; perhaps the threads of gray in the glossy black hair were new, or the lines etched around her mouth, but she remained the handsome, dignified Hispanic madonna Beth recalled.
“I’m Bethany Forsyth, Mrs. Lopez,” Beth said “Carter Forsyth’s younger girl. Do you remember me?”
The woman smiled. “Of course I do now. You look a lot like your mother. You can call me Jass.”
“Thank you. I wonder if I could talk to you for a few minutes?”
Jass hesitated, glancing over her shoulder. “I have to get back to the station.”
“Aren’t you due for your break in a short while?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Yes. How do you know?”
“My friend Mindy told me. She told me you worked here, too.”
Jass smiled at the mention of Mindy’s name. “That one. Always into everything.” Her black eyes flicked over Beth, quick with intelligence. “Why did you want to see me?”
“I wanted to ask you about Bram Curtis,” Beth replied.
Alarm crossed Jass’s face. “What about Abraham? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine,” Beth said reassuringly. “But I need to talk to you about him. I know it’s a lot to ask, but all I need is a few minutes to explain. If you don’t want to talk after that I promise I’ll go. Can I just wait until you get your break and see you then?”
Jass was silent as she made up her mind. Then she said abruptly, “There’s a staff room at the other end of the corridor. Wait outside the door for me. I’ll be there as soon as I check back in at the desk and let them know I’m going off the floor.”
“Thank you so much,” Beth said, relieved. “I’ll see you then.” She hurried to the appointed spot and waited impatiently for Jass to return.
She did so momentarily, walking soundlessly in her crepe soled shoes. She gestured for Beth to precede her into the room, which was occupied by two other nurses.
Jass nodded to them pleasantly, and headed for a table across the room from theirs, putting as much distance between them and herself as she could. Beth followed, noticing that they could hardly hear the murmur of voices from the other two people as they sat down.
Jass did not want to be overheard.
Jass sat back wearily, sighing, and unpinned her cap, plain white, without the band the registered nurses wore on theirs. She set it on the table between them and leaned forward on her elbows.
“So, pretty Miss Forsyth,” she said, her Spanish accent discernible but slight, “what is it you want to know?”
“I want to know why Bram left home at seventeen. I want to know why he quit school and joined the merchant marine to get away.”
The woman’s eyes flickered warily. “What makes you think I know?”
Beth shrugged. “You were there. Nobody else will talk about it, especially Bram.”
Jass shook her head incredulously, as if she couldn’t believe Beth’s innocence—or nerve. “And you think I will tell you? You think I’ll break the confidence of an employer who was good to me, and a boy I cared for, to satisfy your curiosity?” She waved Beth away, using a Spanish word Beth didn’t understand. “No, niña,” she concluded. “Go home.”
Beth panicked as it appeared that she would not be able to penetrate the older woman’s wall of silence. “But you must tell me,” she cried. “You’re my only hope and it’s very important to me, and to Bram.”
Jass looked over at the other nurses, who had glanced around at Beth’s raised voice. “Silencio!” she commanded Beth in a fierce whisper.
Beth got the message. She shut up.
Jass waited until the other nurses were talking again, and then said to Beth, “Why is it so important?”
Beth’s eyes filled as she realized that this woman probably had the secret to Bram’s past, but instead of giving it up was subjecting her to an inquisition that was getting them both nowhere. She bit her lip, trying to think of the words that might unlock the door to the treasure trove of Jacinta’s memory.
“I love Bram,” she said finally, opting for plain truth. “I love him very much, and I’m afraid we’ll never be together because he can’t trust me.” She wiped hurriedly at a tear that had slipped from her eyelash onto her cheek, looking away. Why did she have to cry at the most inopportune moments? It was humiliating.
Jass’s face softened, and she folded her arms, regarding Beth with tolerant concern.
“Why can’t he trust you?” she asked quietly.
“That’s what I want you to tell me!” Beth burst out, frustrated, then immediately lowered her voice. To her immense relief the other nurses got up and, after depositing their trash in a receptacle near the door, left the room.
“I think he loves me, too,” Beth went on, more calmly, “but he’s resisting the commitment. He told me that loving his stepmother made his father gullible and spineless. I think he’s afraid of becoming the same way.”
“He mentioned Anabel to you?” Jass asked sharply.
“He didn’t tell me much,” Beth replied, alerted by the change in Jass’s tone. “But he gave me the impression he didn’t think she was worthy of his father’s love.”
Jass snorted. “That’s for sure,” she said, almost to herself. Rising, she went to a locker at the back of the room and took out a brown paper bag and a mug with her name on it. She helped herself to coffee from an urn on a table under the outside window, and then brought the sack and the cup back to the table.
“Would you like some coffee?” she asked Beth. “There are paper cups for visitors.”
Beth shook her head, waiting tensely for Jass to go on.
“I’ll tell you,” she said, after taking a sip of her drink. “I have never told anyone, for the sake of the father and of the boy. For the woman,” she tossed her head, “I care nothing. I was so happy when I heard she left, I cannot tell you. For years and years I took care of that house and the people, after the mother, wonderful lady, died. God rest her soul. Anabel used to say that the furniture was not dusted, the windows were streaked, the clothes were not clean. No one complained before she came. She wanted me gone, but not for the reason she said.” Jass’s dark eyes held Beth’s. “She was after the boy, and she knew I had seen her.”
“After him?” Beth repeated, stunned.
“Sî, sî, es verdad,” Jass said emphatically. “She wanted him, she would do anything to get him. She went behind the father, waited until he was away or asleep, and she would approach Abraham. I saw it myself, many times.”
Beth swallowed, absorbing it.
“Do you understand?” Jass asked, misinterpreting her silence.
Beth nodded.
“How old was Abraham when he left? Just eighteen?”
“Seventeen,” Beth answered.
“But he was big, and handsome. She never left him alone for a minute,” Jass went on. “And she was beautiful, long blonde hair, the face of an angel. And only, let me see, twenty-five? The age difference was not great, much less than between her and the father. Can you imagine how the boy felt? What was he to do? Go to his father and tell him that his new wife was making advances to his son?” She shook her head. “Abraham would not hurt his father, and I’m not even sure the father would have believed him if Bram had told him. He thought the sun rose in the morning only if she gave it her permission, he was so in love with that wom
an.”
“But every woman is not like Anabel,” Beth whispered. “How can Bram blame me for what she did?”
Jass shrugged. “He was an impressionable kid. He never forgot her behavior. It made him suspicious.”
“Are you sure about this?” Beth asked, recovering slightly.
“Absolutely,” Jass confirmed.
“Anabel initiated it all?” Beth inquired.
Jass looked outraged. “How can you ask such a thing? Bram would never show such disrespect for his father. He is a good boy.”
Beth blinked, surprised by the woman’s vehemence.
“Do you know why I have this job?” Jass continued, stabbing her forefinger in the air for emphasis. “Because Bram gave me the money for the nursing school tuition. When I was dismissed as housekeeper the boy knew why. He went to his lawyer and got an advance on his trust with his father’s permission. He told his father the money was to buy stock, and the father was too obsessed with his wife to check on it. Bram gave all the money to me.”
Beth listened, deeply touched.
“And when the father had the stroke, Anabel left. to She wanted nothing to do with a sick old man. Bram had to get a nurse, and I told him I would work for nothing, to pay him back. And do you know what he said? He said, ‘Stay where you are, Jass, you have a good job with benefits and a retirement plan. I’ll get somebody from the nursing service who only wants day work.’ And that’s what he did.”
Beth watched her, impressed with her affection for Bram.
“Some say bad things about Bram,” Jass said. “They don’t know him, and they don’t know what he had to go through at such a young age. When he wouldn’t give in to Anabel she made his life miserable, poisoning the father’s mind against him. The boy was trapped in an impossible situation; he saw no alternative but to leave.”
“Did he tell you he was going?” Beth asked.
“He told no one. I would have taken him to my house, he knew that. But I don’t think he wanted charity. He just wanted to get away. So he signed up to go, and left me a note. That was all.”
Beth was filled with pity for the boy Bram had been, deprived of the father he needed, unable to tell anyone the truth. And everyone has been blaming him all these years for taking off, Beth thought. Including B. F. Forsyth, JD. The unfairness of it made her throat tighten.
“You see why I was so careful with the others here,” Jass said. “One of them is a terrible gossip, and even now the story would be news with the family still so prominent. I wouldn’t want to hurt Joshua; he was a good friend to me. Before she came, anyway. After that, he was blinded by her and listened only to what she said.”
“I feel awful,” Beth said quietly. “I said some terrible things to Bram. I didn’t realize how wrong I was. I just assumed he ran out on his father because he was willful and immature, refusing to accept the second marriage.”
Jass opened her bag and took out a sandwich. “Oh, he wasn’t happy about it, make no mistake. He thought the woman was an opportunist, a fortune hunter, which she was. But he would have endured it but for the other thing. He couldn’t handle it.” She shrugged. “What boy of that age could?”
Beth reached out and covered the woman’s hand with her own. “Jass, thank you so much for telling me. This helps me a lot. Now I know what I’m fighting.”
“You won’t say anything to him about what I told you?”
“Of course not. I’ll just have to show him, with my actions, that I’m nothing like Anabel.”
Jass raised her eyebrows. “That will be difficult. Bram likes women—he sees many—but he gives himself to no one.”
She certainly has his number, Beth thought. “Do you see him now?” she asked Jass.
The woman nodded. “Oh, yes. He drops by and we talk. I have no family, you know; my husband is dead and I had no children.”
Beth raised her eyes slowly to Jass’s. “Do you think I have a chance?”
Jass smiled slightly. “If anyone does, I think you do.”
“Why?”
“Because you care so much.”
Beth nodded. If love was enough, she would win.
“Good luck,” Jass said as Beth stood up.
That’s the second person who wished me good luck with Bram, Beth thought, as she walked out to her car. Mindy first, and now Jass.
They must think she needed it.
* * *
When she got home an envelope had been dropped through the slot in her front door. It contained five one-hundred-dollar bills. Bram had returned the bail money she’d paid to spring him from jail.
As she moved to put the empty envelope on the hall table, something fell out of it. The glittering object looked like a piece of jewelry. Beth picked it up and held it to the light.
It was a gold charm on a thin, delicate chain, obviously expensive. Diamond chips formed the eyes of a small, burnished mouse.
Beth walked to the phone and dialed Bram’s number at home. She couldn’t keep it; the gift was far too costly and personal.
A woman answered. Startled, Beth was about to hang up when Bram picked up on an extension.
“It’s all right, Gloria. I’ve got it,” he said.
The ubiquitous Gloria, Beth thought. The knowledge of the secretary’s presence in Bram’s house shot through her like a knife.
“Hello?” Bram barked.
“Bram, it’s Beth,” Beth said, deciding to go through with it.
There was a silence. Then, “I take it you got the money?”
“Yes, and the charm, too. I can’t keep it, Bram.”
“Why the hell not?” he demanded.
“It’s worth a lot and it makes me uncomfortable. It’s not the sort of thing I should accept from a client.”
“Is that all I am?” he asked, his tone hostile. “A client?”
“That’s all you want to be, Bram,” Beth replied quietly. “You got that point across last Sunday.”
Bram didn’t answer for several seconds, and then he said, “You can turn the tables on me very neatly, counselor. I always seem to forget that about you.” He paused, and then added, “Is that why you won’t keep the damned trinket? Are you punishing me for walking out on Sunday?”
“You didn’t walk out, Bram. As I recall you left by mutual agreement.”
There was an elaborate sigh from the other end of the line. “You never give an inch, do you?”
“I can see why you might think that,” Beth replied mildly, smiling slightly at the genuine annoyance in his voice.
“Look, Beth, you’re being ridiculous about the charm. I can’t take the bloody thing back; I had the jeweler alter it and put in the diamonds.”
Beth hesitated, and then said, “All right. It’s absurd to go on about it.” He was as immovable as a cliff, and she wasn’t going to spend the evening wrangling with him.
“I agree,” he said smoothly. “There’s one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“My hearing is on October fifteenth. Are you going with me, or what?”
“It’s just a formality, Bram. You really don’t need representation.”
“I’d like you to come with me,” he said stubbornly.
Beth wondered about the reason for his insistence. Was he using the hearing as an excuse to see her, or did he really share the layman’s fear of court?
“I’ll meet you in the lobby before the 10 A. M. hearing,” Beth finally said. “Is there anything else?”
“As crisp as lettuce, aren’t you?” he said sarcastically.
Beth thought that over in silence. He was the one who had pulled back from their passionate encounter, but now he seemed to resent her taking a more distant attitude toward him. Interesting.
“I don’t know what you mean,” she replied finally, unable to come up with anything more original.
“Damn you. Yes, you do,” he said furiously, and slammed the phone in her ear.
Beth stood with the dead receiver in her hand, unsu
re if she had scored a victory or fought to a draw. It felt a little more like a victory.
Her moment of triumph was short lived, however, as she recalled that Gloria would be available to comfort Bram and relieve his frustrations. Beth pictured Gloria in Bram’s arms, the recipient of the kisses Beth had tasted, and Beth hung up the phone slowly, feeling slightly ill.
She caught sight of herself in the mirror as she walked through the hall and stopped short. Her face was a study in misery.
Get hold of yourself, she said under her breath. Jealousy is a futile, childish, destructive emotion. Don’t indulge in it.
Beth took several deep breaths and felt marginally better. But only marginally.
She took the gold mouse from her pocket and fastened the chain about her wrist.
Maybe it would bring her the luck her friends had wished her.
CHAPTER 8
During the next two weeks Beth gently discouraged Jason Raines from trying to develop their relationship beyond the professional stage and concentrated on getting her practice in shape. She was determined to keep busy and avoid thoughts of Bram, but this proved difficult when Mindy called and dropped by at all hours to keep her informed of Bram’s activities. Mindy seemed to know everything that was going on around the planet, with a special emphasis on Suffield and Connecticut in particular.
“Bram was at the Blue Dragon with that doctor last night,” she informed Beth one afternoon, as she sifted through a stack of Beth’s mail.
“I’m sure Gloria will be very unhappy to hear that,” Beth replied mildly.
“You don’t look too pleased at the news yourself,” Mindy said bluntly, unconvinced by Beth’s meticulous disinterest.
“He’s free to do whatever he wants,” Beth said.
“I don’t think your plan is working,” Mindy offered.
“Give it time.”
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